


Seven of Swords

by DreadTacticianRobin



Series: Seven of Swords-verse [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Persona Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Fantasy, Gen, Mystery, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25798333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreadTacticianRobin/pseuds/DreadTacticianRobin
Summary: Garreg Mach Academy, a very selective college with a odd ensemble of students and teachers, would prove challenging enough for Byleth Eisner, the new literature teacher - and that's without the odd shadow world and the mysterious dragon girl who resides inside it. Byleth, alongside a motley collection of students lead by charismatic heir to the Leicester fortune Claude Riegan, is going to get to bottom of what's going on at the school, and what has happened, no matter what it takes.Crossover of Fire Emblem: Three Houses with the Persona series, set in Modern Day AU.
Series: Seven of Swords-verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893097
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Enter the Monastery

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome readers, and if you've read my last fic, welcome back! This is my Persona/3H crossover fanfic that I've been working on. This is just the first chapter, put forth as kind of an 'interest test', among other things, though don't be worried - I'm going to be writing all the way to the first completed Palace, at minimum. An FAQ with more details about the setting will be put out once the second chapter goes up, so for now, just relax and enjoy the first chapter.

- _Garreg Mach Academy_ -

“Garreg Mach Academy, huh? ‘For those of exceptional qualities.’” Byleth parked his car in the almost-empty facility parking lot and got out, slowly musing over the school motto proudly displayed on the side of the building. “That kind of makes me wonder why I was never a student here. Oh well. No use thinking about it now.”

Byleth twisted the keys in the ignition to shut the car off, unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car, pocketing the keys as he did so. He looked a bit youthful for his twenty-five years with his clean-shaven face, and, somewhat in a vain effort to compensate for it, he wore a full-length black duster to add to his look, with enough pockets to hold whatever he felt like. He walked to the trunk, popped it, and took out his suitcase.

The college wasn’t scheduled to start for nearly a week, and even still, the teachers weren’t expected to show up until three days prior, but, given that Byleth was a brand-new teacher, the headmistress had asked him to come in early, so he could ‘settle down fully before the students come’. Byleth didn’t mind, particularly, especially considering that she was apparently a former friend of his father.

A quick stop at the facility dormitory, which was less a dormitory and more of a luxury suite, and Byleth had managed to quickly start putting away his things. Traveling the world with his father when he was younger had instilled upon him the habit to pack lightly, so he really didn’t have much to decorate the room with. He had just finished unpacking the majority of his things when there was a knock on the door.

 _That’s unusual._ Byleth spared a glance at the watch on his wrist. _Headmistress Rhea said I was to meet with her at 6:00 pm. It’s not even 5 now_.

“Hello? Sorry for bothering you but I saw you come in and I was wondering if we could make introductions?” the voice came from beyond the door. Too young and too male to be Rhea.

“It’s fine.” Byleth opened the door to find a young man standing outside, someone of medium build with a cheerful grin and what only appeared to be a Padawan-style braid hanging from his hair. “Can I help you?”

“Sure. Claude Riegan. You know, of Leicester Conglomerate.” Claude extended his hand. “Please to meet you, Teach.”

“Teach?” Byleth accepted the handshake.

“Yeah, the only ones on the campus this early are the faculty and the prefects.” Claude said. “So I’m guessing you’re a new teacher here?”

“Byleth Eisner. Please to meet your acquaintance.” Byleth responded. “I’m the new literature teacher here.”

“Ooh.” Claude said, grinning. “I mostly do economics, but I think I have a requirement to take care of this semester, so I should be in one of your classes. You wouldn’t happen to be related to _Jeralt_ Eisner, would you?”

“My father.”

“Dang!” Claude whistled. “I’m a huge fan of his work, you know. So, can I help you in any way? Care for a tour of the grounds, for instance?”

“Why?”

“Because, like I said, I’m going to have to take a class with you this year and I’d like to brownnose to you as much as possible.” Claude winked. “I’m all about that easy A life.”

Byleth could help but chuckled at the audacity of the sentence. “You’re really going to admit that?”

“Think of it this way. Would you rather have a suckup who pretended he wasn’t a suckup, or someone who’s actually honest about it?” Claude asked. “Besides, there’s only a handful of others on campus right now. Headmistress is too busy to give you the tour herself, and most of the other teachers haven’t arrived yet. I think Professor H is here, but good luck dragging him out of the lab. Besides, the other two prefects are boring as sin.”

“Boring as sin?” Byleth raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe not that bad, but still. Dmitri acts like a stick in the mud and Edelgard’s pretty enough, but you can tell that she’s hiding something. The girl’s probably an axe-murderer or something.” Claude laughed at Byleth’s face. “I’m joking, Teach! They aren’t that bad. But they can’t give you the color commentary like I can.”

“Well, I’ve got an hour,” Byleth checked his watch, “so lead the way, Claude.”

_-Academy Grounds-_

“So, the first thing you need to know is that this was a former monastery. And, yeah, it’s been renovated basically over everything, but there’s still kind of a monastery influence. It’s why the main dining hall still has stained glass windows and everything.” Claude gestured in front of him. “You see that? Dining hall. It’s off the main hall which is where we have the study hall, of course. And, to the right of that, we’ve got the extracurricular building – you know, stables, archery range, that sort of thing.”

“This place has an archery range?” Byleth raised an eyebrow.

“It’s weird, right? I’m not complaining. I need to practice, or I get rusty. Left of the main hall are the classrooms, we’re going to skip them because they’re boring. The first number of the classroom is the floor it’s on and the other two number are where on the floor. It’s not complicated.” Claude said. “And, left of those buildings are the dormitories, of course. It’s split into three houses.”

“The Golden Deer, the Black Eagle, and the Blue Lions.” Byleth said. “And you’re the prefect of the Golden Deer dorm? How’d you wind up with that job?”

“Headmistress decides. Something about the fact that, despite my general demeanor being what she refers to as ‘being the antithesis of what she’s looking for’, my extracurricular accomplishments have convinced her otherwise.” Claude shook his head. “I can’t pretend to understand it, but I’m glad to have the authority to misuse properly.”

“Why do I get the feeling that we’ll either get along really well or not at all?”

“Hey, that’s what most people say about me.” Claude said. “I guess I just have one of those faces.”

 _A poker face, more like it._ Byleth wasn’t fooled. _He’s hiding something beneath that façade of his. But he doesn’t seem to be doing it maliciously. Father warned me that few people at this place were who they seemed. I guess this is just one extension of it._

“Penny for your thoughts, Teach?”

“How do they decide who gets into what dorm?”

“Oh, we give a speech at orientation and try to attract people with our various forms of charm.” Claude said. “I try to use the everyman approach, you know? Feel really friendly with everyone using my homegrown rustic charm. Dmitri gives some speech involving diligence and honor; and Edelgard … well, OK, I’ll be honest with you, Teach. I kind of fell asleep last time so I don’t know what she said.”

“I don’t know what astounds me more, your general attitude, or your candid nature about it.”

“Well, continuing on the tour.” Claude said. “The back left you see all the way there? That’s our gymnasium and we have a pretty sweet bathhouse next to it that we converted from the monastery. Showers, sure, but it’s actually got a sauna _and_ a hot bath. Pretty sweet, right?”

“And the floor above the study hall?”

“Oh, that.” Claude said. “That’s the library, I think. I mean, Lysithea usually disappears there most afternoons and Hilda won’t step foot there, so by process of elimination, it’s the library. And the Headmistress’s office. Then there’s the roof, but we’re not allowed on the roof, so there’s that.”

“Excellent. You’ve done a great job of pointing out all the landmarks.” Byleth said. “I’m sure I couldn’t have gotten in from the campus map that I read.”

“Well, if you want, there’s something _else_ I know about.” A gleam appeared in Claude’s eye. “There’s an old ghost story in our school, one you won’t find on any guide, but if you want, I can show it you…”

“Well…” Byleth frowned. “Can I assume that it’s probably forbidden for students to go there?”

“Only without supervision.” Claude said.

“Let’s leave that for another day, alright?”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Teach.” Claude said. “I’m going to feel bad now, and it’s really not that bad. Students just hype it to make it sound worse.”

“Well…”

“Bullying a newly arrived teacher, are we, Riegan?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Claude rolled his eyes. “Way to jump to conclusions, Hresvelg.”

“That’s because anytime I _don’t_ jump to conclusions around you, I quickly find that I’m a few steps behind,” the newcomer fired back, a woman wearing the school uniform in red and black. She was pale skinned with pale hair and eyes to match, thought carried herself confidently. “Can I assume you’re one of the new teachers?”

“Byleth Eisner. You’re also one of the prefects?”

“Indeed I am. Edelgard von Hresvelg, of the Black Eagles.” Edelgard gave a polite bow. “Can I assume that you’re related to Jeralt Eisner?”

“He’s my father.” Byleth supplied.

“Oh!” Edelgard smiled. “So we’ll have a father-son duo teaching here this year.”

“Wait, what?” Claude interjected. “Jeralt’s teaching here?”

“Of course you weren’t paying attention.” Edelgard rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Claude, did you not read the pamphlet that was sent out over the summer?”

“Yes! … once.” Claude said. “Aw. Was this in the updated one? Because I kind of figured it was a waste of my time to reread it.”

“For someone who professes to love ferreting out secrets, you’re remarkably ill-informed.” Edelgard said. “Well, there’s nothing for it. Come on, Reigan. I’m not having you jeopardize your dormmates with your ignorance. We’re spending the rest of the afternoon reviewing what you should already know.”

“ _Help me, Teach!”_ Claude sent a frantic look his way.

Byleth checked his watch. “Excellent timing. I was supposed to meet with Headmistress Rhea in a few minutes, anyways. It’s always nice to see students spending their free time learning.”

“What do you teach? History?”

“No, that’s my father’s specialty.” Byleth said. “I teach literature.”

“As in, how to write it or do you teach famous literary works?”

“Yes.” Byleth grinned. “So, can I look forward to you in one of my classes?”

“I’m a political science major.” Edelgard said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I was looking forward to taking your father’s classes on the Austrian Empire, but I think I might take a literate class this semester.”

“Remind you of home, Edelgard?”

“Oh, _shut up_ , Claude.” Edelgard turned to Byleth. “I’m descended from European royalty on my father’s side – hence the name ‘von Hreslveg’. It’s kind of pretentious and embarrassing, but I’m my father’s only child, so I keep the name. And, yes, I have some Austrian blood within me.”

“All European nobility did. Hardly suprising.”

“Wait, they did?” Claude asked.

“It’s called the Hapsburgs. Read a book sometime.” Edelgard snapped. “Honestly, I can’t believe they made someone like you a prefect. Don’t you have a hotel chain or two to buy right now?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you, Teach.” Claude said. “My name might be Claude Reigan, but my mom’s side of the family is Leceister, as in, the Leceister Conglomerate. So, you know, I’m filthy rich. Well, not actually, because the old man doesn’t give me anything and my parents believe in ‘self-reliance’, or something, but yeah. I’ve got the richest family in the school. I try to not let it get to my head.”

“And the scary thing is that I believe you.” Edelgard shook her head.

Byleth watched the two, fascinated. He couldn’t tell whether the two students were actually friends, or just such good enemies that they got along that well. Clause being rich … well, it kind of surprised him, but he knew that there were weird students at Garreg Mach. Still, the first student he met being the grandson of a multibillionaire and the second being European nobility was a bit suprising.

“So, are there any other notable students here?”

“Dmitri, for one. The prefect of Blue Lions.” Edelgard answered almost immediately. “His parents were notable politicians – two senators. And, oddly enough, on opposite sides of the political isle at that.”

“How’d _that_ happened?”

“Don’t know, but apparently things were more civil back then.” Edelgard frowned. “They both passed away a while ago, so I wouldn’t ask him about it. He’s also in political science with me, so we’ll probably both be in the same class if we end up in one of your classes.”

“Aside from that… hmm.” Claude ticked them off his fingers. “A few local students, some foreigners, an odd genius here or there, some sons or daughters of famous people, and that’s about it. You’ll meet them all soon enough. The school isn’t that big.”

Byleth’s watched beeped a single time. He nodded to the two. “Well, I’ll be off. I hope to see you in my class.”

“See ya, Teach.” Clause made to slink away, only to be effortlessly thwarted as Edelgard grabbed his collar and pull him after her with a surprising amount of strength.

“Come on, Riegan.”

- _Headmistress’s Office_ -

Byleth felt a little bad for leaving Claude behind, but only a little. He’d gotten the sense that Claude knew exactly who Jeralt Eisner was when he had asked him earlier and had lied to Edelgard about not knowing it. For all the time that Byleth has known Claude, lying about what the Golden Deer prefect knew seemed perfectly in character for him.

He made his way to the second floor and found the Headmistress’s office fairly fast, knocking at the door faintly.

“Come in,” a sweet voice responded.

Byleth opened the door and slowly walked in. Sitting behind an incredibly large desk with mountains and mountains of papers stacked all over it was a woman who had a commanding look of maturity, but also a face youthful enough so that she might escape being called even middle-aged. The headmistress of the academy, Rhea Seiros.

“Would you mind introducing yourself to me?”

“I’m Byleth Eisner.”

“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.” Rhea said with a sweet smile. “I was good friends with your father a long time ago, back before I ran this academy. Did he ever tell you about me?”

“My father never really liked discussing his past. I think the memories of my mother made him feel uncomfortable.” Byleth said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.” Rhea said. “Such a pity. Well, I _am_ a good friend of your father, and I’m glad that I was able to get the two of you to work here this year. My, I don’t know what I would have done. We’re an academy which prides itself on excellence, yet I was missing both a teacher for both history and literature. You have my thanks.”

“No problem, Headmistress. I was just glad that I could get a job.”

“Oh, you mustn’t call me that. Headmistress is so formal, and I was a friend of both your father and mother.” Rhea shook her head, firmly. “Please, call me Rhea.”

“You knew my mother?”

“Yes. But I don’t think its my place to tell you about her.” Rhea said. “But this is about you, Byleth. How are you? Did you arrive here alright?”

“Yes, I arrived here fine. One of the prefects noticed me coming in and showed me around.”

“Dmitri?”

“No, Claude.”

“ _Claude_?” Rhea’s eye grew wide. “I guess he must have seen something he liked in you because he’s not normally that helpful to outsiders. Or … well, actually he’s very helpful to outsiders, it’s his friends that he constantly pranks. I was conflicted about making him a prefect, but … well, he _is_ the most suited for the task, even if he feels the need to fight it at every turn.”

“He seemed interesting.” Byleth smiled. “Don’t worry, I haven’t dropped my guard around him.”

“Well, that’s alright, then. Okay, I guess I better go over the basics. Don’t worry.” Rhea searched around her desk for a while, looking for something. She eventually selected a folder of papers and removed it. Byleth caught sight of an official-looking paper under the folder with the words _Cognitive Pscience_ in bold on top before Rhea shuffled her desk and the paper disappeared in a stack somewhere.

“Here you go!” Rhea said, cheerfully. “I’ve taken the liberty of putting your schedule together. You’re teaching three courses this semester. The first is a fairly standard writing course, the second is a more advanced one for the advanced students, and the last is a survey of literature throughout history.”

“I don’t remember discussing the last one the last time we talked…” Byleth said, somewhat confused.

“Oh? Oh! Sorry, it was a last-minute addition on my part. It’s just an elective for students who want to learn more about history. I thought that you would be well-suited to teach it, especially given that your father’s a historian.” Rhea sighed. “I’m sorry for dumping this on you, but I _did_ warn you that there might be more work for you.”

“I’m fine.” Byleth was a bit flustered by her apology and accepted the folder. A third course wouldn’t be that difficult to teach, and it wasn’t as if he didn’t know the material. It would mean more work, but he was pretty sure he could manage it.

“Okay. Now, I don’t want to put _too_ much pressure on you, but have you thought of forming a club of some sort?”

“I gave it some thought, but could you fill me in a bit more?”

“Well, here at Garreg Mach we pride ourselves on our exceptionalism. We do this is a lot of ways, of course, and one of the ways we do that is selecting students by invitation early.” Rhea said. “And, while that does make the student composition a bit … unique … I find that it really helps, so I encourage teachers to do the same.”

“You want me to make a unique, invitation-only, club on school grounds?”

“Most of the teachers do it. Professor Hannerman has a dedicated little biology group, and Miss Manuela has her little team of songbirds.” Rhea said. “You don’t have to do it right away, but if you want to form some kind of group, feel free to do so.”

_I don’t think that I’ll ever need to do that, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try._

“Now, I’ll just need you to sign this.” Rhea removed a contract from a drawer on her desk. “I hope this doesn’t scare you off, Byleth, but it’s the standard contract that I like to have all the teachers here sign. It’s nothing serious, I suppose, as long as you’re conscious of your standing at all times.”

“Didn’t I already sign a contract?”

“Yes. This isn’t for your job.” Rhea smiled. “It’s just an acknowledgement that you are responsible for your actions from this point onwards. You’ll be a teacher here for the next years, and everything that you do here will have consequences.”

Byleth accepted the contract and looked over it carefully. It really was just as Rhea said – a contract for him accepting responsibility for all his actions in the upcoming year. Byleth nodded to himself and gently signed the paper as _Byleth Eisner._

“And, lastly, I think it’s best if you toured the entire grounds.” Rhea smiled. “Really try to familiarize yourself with every nook and cranny, alright? Well, it was great speaking with you, Byleth. If you want to speak with me at any time, feel free to just walk into my office. I owe a lot to your father, so I’ll be glad to help you whatever way I can.”

 _Normally, I might complain about the rampant nepotism, but that_ is _what got me the job in the first place, so I have no leg to stand down._ Byleth nodded and got up, stowing the folder in his coat. _She seems a bit earnest to become friends with me, but I suppose that could just be the fact that she was close to my parents, so I should give her a chance._

“It was good meeting with you, Headmistress.”

“Call me Rhea!”

“Sorry, Rhea.” Byleth said. “I look forward to our next meeting.”

“Don’t me a stranger, now. My office is open anytime.”

- _Academy Grounds_ -

“So, you’re finally out.” Claude was waiting for him as Byleth exited the room. “You have some nerve, you know. You tossed me under the bus!”

“You shouldn’t have lied to Edelgard in the first place about not knowing my father was teaching here.”

Claude opened his mouth as if to respond, and closed it, looking a bit sheepish. “Got me in one, Teach. What gave me away? I’m usually a better liar than that.”

“You seemed to know about my father when you asked me.” Byleth said. “He’s famous, but not _that_ famous. He’s only well known in certain circles, and those aren’t circles someone who studies economics would know about. Also, my instincts told me.”

“Hmm. Well, that ordinarily would be a good argument, except I have someone in my dorm who won’t shut up about your father. It’s kind of annoying.” Claude said. “She’s good company otherwise. I wonder if you two will get along.”

“I hope so.”

“Oh! So, you want to check out the haunted tomb?”

“Haunted _tomb_?”

“Yeah, there’s an old crypt on the academy grounds.” Claude said. “No one ever talks about it and the one time I asked Headmistress she gave me a stern look and told me that it was strictly off limits.”

“And, naturally, that made you more curious.”

“Of course! Also, there are a ton of rumors flying around about it. Here, come on this way.” Claude started walking. “So I snuck it one night and … it was pretty boring. I mean, there’s a giant marble slab in the center of the room, but that’s it. It’s pretty empty aside from that.”

“Did you try moving the slab?”

“Too heavy. Besides, I knocked and it wasn’t hollow.”

Claude led Byleth down the stairs, exited to the west of the main hall, before going north, and the two found their way to a concrete bunker set to the far side of the campus, up against one of the academy’s walls. There was an abandoned building next to it, something like an old cathedral. It seemed too far away from the academy to be of any use to anyone there.

“That’s a bunker, Claude. Not a crypt.” Byleth sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I should have known better. Of course college students jump to conclusions. There’s nothing here to indicate that there’s anyone buried, just a general shape.”

“Wow, Teach, don’t tell me that you’re interested all of the sudden.”

“Actually … I am. In spite of myself.” Byleth said. “So, are we going inside?”

“…well, it’s your call, Teach.”

“Headmistress Rhea _did_ tell me to make myself familiar with all parts of the building.” Byleth stepped inside, followed closely by Claude. Byleth looked around. It was, as Claude had described it, depressingly mundane. The walls and ceiling were a boring concrete and while there was a marble slab in the center of the room, it was as mundane as it was unremarkable.

“Told you, Teach. Nothing here.”

“…So it would seem.” Byleth blinked. “Hey, Claude… does that slab in the center of the room seems a bit unusual?”

“Unusual? No. You seeing things, Teach?”

“I don’t think so.” Byleth shook his head. “No, I must have imagined it. Anyway, I have work to do. Thank you for the tour, Claude. I’ll see you in class.”

“Okay. I guess it’s going to be like that.” Claude said, stepping out of the bunker. “Later, Teach.”

Byleth was left alone in the bunker, with no else in sight. Still, he couldn’t shake the weirdest feeling that he was, in fact, being watched.

_“How long are you just going to stand there!?”_

Byleth spun around upon hearing the voice. But there was nothing. Nothing except Claude coming down the stairs, looking worried.

“Hey, Teach. You, uh, didn’t do anything funny, right?”

“Claude, what are talking about?”

“Um, the academy is gone, and I have no idea what’s happening right now.”

“…What do you mean, the academy is gone?” Byleth took the stairs up and out of the bunker and stared in amazement. “Oh.”

The modern Garreg Mach University was no more. In its place was a gigantic stone building, mostly crumbled as if it has just gone through a war of some kind. Walls had fallen and brick lay scattered, though from what Byleth could tell, the building placements seemed eerily similar to what the university had.

“Um, Teach… I don’t want to believe in ghost stories, but you might want to look behind us.”

Byleth slowly turned around to look at the bunker, except it was no longer a bunker. Now, it _was_ a crypt, and what was more, the marble slab was now a marble tomb. Claude swallowed audibly next to him, still looking around and taking things in.

“I know I wanted to discover this place’s secrets, but I really didn’t mean it like this!” Claude said. “Please tell me you know where we are, Teach!”

“If I could hazard a guess, I’d say this is the original monastery that the current one is based off of.”

“We traveled back in time!?” Claude said. “Oh, that’s horrifying. Do you think that if we go back to that crypt we can get back to our time?”

“I don’t think we traveled back in time…” Byleth said, slowly. “Because time travel is impossible.”

“So what do you think happened to us?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as I figure it out.” Byleth said. “But, let head back to the crypt for now, okay?”

“I’m right behind you…” Claude blinked. “What are those?”

Black oozes started appearing from beneath the stones in the courtyard, swarming together so they resembled giant black slimes. The pair looked at each other and started backing slowly and carefully, in a very concerted effort to not provoke the slimes.

It was for naught. One of them turned, somehow, towards them and swirled up, manifesting itself into some kind of monster. It had a jack-o’-lantern head, and a tattered scarecrow cloak wrapped around itself. A thin pair of gloved hands protruded from the cloak and held aloft a lantern.

“A Will-o’-the-Wisp…” Byleth said, staring at the monster, “but it’s just supposed to just be a myth.”

“What is that, Teach?”

“A wayward soul who seeks only to maliciously deceive and mislead travelers.” Byleth said. “It’s an old Irish legend.”

The creature laughed and advanced its way towards the pair.

“On three, we run towards the crypt and hope that this is some kind of nightmare.” Claude said. “Ready? One, two, thr-”

The creature lunged at the pair. Byleth wasted no time and shouldered Claude out of the way of the monster’s attack, ready to take the brunt of it himself. He braced himself against the incoming flame attack, but nothing hit him.

“Honestly! What are you accomplishing with that little stunt!? It’s like you’re trying to get me killed, you fool!” A harsh voice berated Byleth. Byleth looked tentatively at the attacking monster, but it had been battered away and he was now guarded by a dragon-like spirit creature.

Byleth stared at the creature in wonder.

“If you keep running from your problems, how are you ever supposed to solve them? And if you never stay and fight, how will you discover what you’re truly capable of? I can’t believe it was you two who discovered my crypt.” A girl appeared in front of the pair, standing in front of the monstrous creature. “Well, if you’re going to be guests in my world, I guess I had better at least teach you the rules. Or at least how to defend yourself.”

“Careful, that’s a Will-o’-the-Wisp!”

“Pyro Jack, actually,” the girl corrected. “But you can learn that later. There are only two things you need to know right now. The first is that my name is Sothis, that I am also called the beginning, and that I’m your only chance in and out of this place. And the second is…”

“Hee-ho!” Pyro Jack shot out a jet of flame out of its lantern.

“Come forth, the ancestor of dragons! Bahamut, aid me!” Sothis clenched her fist and a symbol appeared in the air around her as the gigantic draconic form materialized again, this time around her, using its wings to take the brunt of the fire. Sothis smirked and chided the shadow. “Oh, come now. Do you think a little Agi is going to cook _my_ dragon? Now, Bahamut, use Hamaon!”

A circle of light appeared beneath the unfortunate Pyro Jack and with a flash, the creature vanished in thin air.

“As I was saying.” Sothis turned around as the dragon faded into obscurity. “There are two things you need to know. The second is that _that_ was a Persona. If you’re going to survive out here, you’re going to need to get ones of your own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sothis’s Persona: Bahamut, the Progenitor Dragon  
> Immune: Light, Weak: Dark  
> Notable Abilities: Sothis an early-game healer and can use powerful instant-death spells. Her Persona is at a remarkably high-level, but she has no offensive spells save for the Hama line and only has access to Dia spells, not Recarm. Bahamut was chosen because, while technically not a dragon in the original myth, Bahamut is considered to be a dragon in modern culture, and its one of the oldest known examples of a dragon.


	2. The Fool Awakens

_-The Monastery-_

“Who are you?” Claude asked, breaking the stunned silence.

“Hmm? Are you deaf? Or dumb? I just told you,” Sothis said. “My name is Sothis. Though … curious. I feel as if I didn’t know my own name until just now. I know you, though.”

Sothis ignored Claude and stared pointedly at Byleth. Byleth, for his part, watched the small girl look over him and took careful note of her appearance. She was wearing some sort of a blue dress, with gold embroidery over it and hair braided into plaints, but some of it dyed white or red from its natural green. Also, she had pointed ears.

“I’m … sorry?”

“I don’t recall seeing the likes of you anywhere.” Sothis stared at Byleth. “Yet, I can’t feel but helped that we’re linked in some manner. Who are you?”

“Can’t you tell?” Byleth responded. “I’m a demon.”

“No, you’re not. Please keep your wit to yourself.”

“I’m a human. A normal mortal named Byleth.”

“Byleth? That name sounds familiar, but I do not know why.” Sothis said. She pointed at Claude. “ _You_ , I don’t feel I know at all. Hmmm. I wonder why that is.”

“You know him, and not me? And just what is going on right now? We’re trapped somewhere alongside a small little elf girl.” Claude shook his head. “No, tell you what. I have better questions. How did we even get here, what is here, and how do we get back?”

“So many questions.” Sothis said. “I told you, you’ve got to put first things first, but I suppose that I can give you a quick introduction to where ‘here’ is. Welcome to the Monastery.”

“The Monastery?”

“Uh-huh. Think of it as the collective subconscious of all the people who go to the academy. It’s part of a larger world called either the cognitiverse or the shadow world, but the Monastery specifically attracts the thoughts of people who come here.” Sothis gestured to the oozing black goop. “And that? Those are the inhabitants of this world – the shadows.”

“Jungian psychology, much?” Byleth said, raising an eyebrow. “So … just guessing from what I know from reading, those are the ignored bits of every subconscious that they don’t like about themselves and they turn into monsters.”

“Pretty much.”

“I didn’t expect the subconscious to be so literal.”

“I bet it isn’t like that at all.” Claude snapped his fingers. “Hey, tell you what, Teach. I’m guessing it only takes on the form of monsters because they appear within the human collective subconscious. So it’s not actually a will o’ the wisp, it just imitates one because that’s what in people’s nightmares.”

“Satisfactory answers, both of you.” Sothis nodded. “Looks like you’re getting the hang of this quickly.”

“I still don’t know how we got here.”

“The crypt, obviously.”

“…but _why?_ ” Claude asked, and then noticed the bored look on Sothis’s face shifting to guarded as Sothis slowly looked away. “Oh. You don’t know, do you?”

“I’ve been asleep for a while.” Sothis said, yawning. “I’m sure it’ll come back to me, eventually.”

“You’ve been _asleep_?”

“I was put in that crypt to make sure anyone who crossed over to the Monastery would be protected.” Sothis said, assuming an air of smug superiority. “I’m still a bit groggy, but I have all of what I need to know. Anything else is just unimportant right now.”

“This doesn’t fall under ‘need to know’?”

“Would you rather me know _why_ the crypt brought you here or _how_ the crypt can bring you back?”

“Point taken.” Claude sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have no desire to be trapped in a mind world and fighting other people’s inner demons alongside a small elf girl. So … how do we get back?”

“Well, the first thing you do is you – oh no.” Sothis turned around to see more oozes coming at them, forming into humanoid-looking plant creatures. “Well, trials by fire. I’ll lead you back once we deal with this batch of shadows.”

“Plant creatures?” Byleth narrowed his eyes. “I don’t recognize those.”

“Mandrakes.” Sothis grimaced. “Nasty little pests. Now, you’ve seen me summon my persona, so I think it’s high time you summon yours. Go ahead.”

Both Byleth and Claude exchanged blank looks.

“Well, it is your first time here. I suppose its only natural that you don’t have your personas manifested yet. Come forth, Bahamut!” Sothis raised her hand, summoning her dragon once again. “Now, let’s show them what a Persona can do. Mahama!”

Golden circles flashed under the approaching group of Mandrakes, but only a few of them disappeared. The rest charged forward and slammed into Sothis, knocking her back, sending the poor girl to the ground as her dragon disappeared.

“That’s bad…” Claude muttered, desperately looking around.

“Stay away from her!” Byleth acted almost without thinking lashing out and charging directly the Mandrakes. As he did so, he picked up a fallen piece of wood and hefted it like a sword, swinging it wildly at the Mandrakes, forcing them backwards. The creatures scattered, but moved in a circle to surround the pair.

“Sothis, are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’ve been better…” Sothis said, from the ground. “Now would be a good time to summon your Persona.”

“I don’t even know what that is!”

“It’s the Shadow to your true self, the subconscious part of you! Call him forth and he will come.” Sothis paused. “I hope.”

“PERSONA!”

Nothing responded in his mind. One of the Mandrakes got closer, and Byleth leapt forward, swinging at it. The wood connected, and splintered against the creature, sending it back, but leaving Byleth defenseless against the other two. They started approaching, as Byleth began to slowly step backwards.

“Teach!”

“Ignore me, just grab the girl and run.” Byleth said, calmly. “I’ll buy you some time.”

Claude shouted something back, but Byleth couldn’t hear him. At that exact moment, one of the Mandrakes attacked him. Byleth threw up his guard to block the attack, and the monster connected, sending him to the floor with the force of the blow.

Pain throbbed in his arms, a dull pain from the impact. Byleth rolled on his side and started getting up, only to notice that he was now the center of attention for the creatures. The girl was untouched and Claude had run over to her, helping her to his feet.

 _I’m going to die here._ Clarity washed over Byleth, accompanied by a calm certainty. He had no weapons and was fighting monsters out of a storybook, and the mysterious waif who usually showed up to protect the protagonists and explain the world was out for the count. _If I was the main character, now is about the time when my powers would manifest and save the day. But I’m not the main character. I’m the mentor._

It was perfectly obvious in hindsight. Claude, obviously, would be the protagonist of the story, and he, Byleth, was the unfortunate mentor character killed off. Except he wouldn’t even be the mentor character proper. He hadn’t even taught a single class.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Literary subversions are all the rage these days.” Byleth got to his feet. It wasn’t rage or anger that allowed him to fight back his fear, nor even his sense of pride. It was merely his lack of emotions.

 _I suppose this is the end of the road for me._ Byleth frowned. _How disappointing. Even this can’t produce emotions within me. Not regret. Not sorrow. Not even fear. I really am just an empty shell._

“Teach, you’ve got to do something!” Claude howled across to him.

 _Oh, right. Claude._ A single tinge of regret sparked in Byleth’s heart as he took notice of the situation. _I suppose … I don’t mind dying, but it’s such a waste. The kid isn’t me, he’s going to be heartbroken. I’m really a bad teacher, huh?_

“ _So, Ashen Demon, it seems that your heart is not devoid of emotions after all.”_ Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the first Mandrake approached him, arms extended. _“You have regrets, as does everyone. Do you not desire vengeance upon those regrets?”_

_Vengeance? Vengeance for what?_

_“Hmm. So you do not know. It is a secret deep within your heart, kept hidden even from yourself. It slumbers deep within your heart, a flame that threatens to grow into an inferno that will dwarf even mine. So much inherited regret, so much sought to be made right. I will lend you my power, if you desire it.”_

_Who are you!?_

_I am thou. Thou art I. I sense your desire for vengeance. Ashen Demon, does thou wish to make a contract? If thou does, thou only has only to s_ _ay my name and call me forth!”_ The voice sounded inside Byleth’s head as the Mandrake came even closer. _“Say my name and complete the contract!”_

Pain suddenly wracked his body as a symbol began forming on the back of his hand, as if inked there like a tattoo, but the symbol was living and expanding, forming a circle design, a crest of some sort. As that happen, the blood in his body began breaking out in pain, forcing him to his knees as it overtook his body. A voice echoed around him.

“ _A brilliant mind and a grudge borne for generations… there are things that bind us, young tactician. Take my aid and I will destroy your enemies!”_

“With this power, I will destroy those who stand in my way. Come forth, Hannibal of Barca!” Byleth raised his hand and the crest appeared behind in full force as his Persona appeared, alongside a brilliant flash of light, blasting the Mandrakes back as it enveloped him. Claude stared at the flash of light in wonder as he hurriedly pulled Sothis to the side.

When the flash cleared, Byleth was still standing there, though now he was wearing a black cloak and tunic instead of his normal clothes, giving him the appearance of a medieval tactician, with an empty sword belt strapped around him waist. Behind him stood a giant of man dressed in ancient battle armor, one hand wielding a sword composed of elephant tusks and the other hand holding a shield seeming made from the face of an elephant.

Byleth confidently strode towards the crowd of Mandrakes as his Persona followed him, matching him step for step. Byleth stopped in front of them and gestured, as a tactician might do when giving commands to his army.

“Now, destroy my enemies. Agi!” Fire shot forth as Hannibal sunk his blade into the ground, knocking over one of the Mandrakes. Byleth repeated the command and the Persona followed suit, sending flame after flame into the Mandrakes, knocking them over one by one. They slowly evaporated into dust.

 _There is a fire now, a fire that burns within my heart. How curious – this power is a ‘Persona’?_ Byleth suddenly knelt, wincing as he felt his heart.

“Teach!” Claude left Sothis and approached him. “Are you okay? Speak to me!”

“So that’s your Persona, hmm?” Sothis said, seemingly perfectly fine. She got up and dusted herself off. “Hannibal of Barca. I don’t know him, but he must be pretty strong.”

“A general of Carthage from ancient times, he led the armies of one of the world’s superpowers.” Byleth said. _He certainly would have reason to hate Rome, so that’s the ‘vengeance’ and ‘regret’ he carries. But what is mine?_ “He brought Rome to its knees, but… well, I suppose it doesn’t quite matter now. Still, I’m not sure I would have picked Hannibal of all to people to represent my inner self.”

“You don’t get it, do you? It’s not about who _you_ pick, it’s about who your shadow is like.” Sothis sighed. “Oh dear. It seems like I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“Wait, how I do get one of those things?” Claude asked.

“Just call it forth. It’s rather simple.” Sothis said. “It might ask you to make a contract with it, or something of that nature, but once you do, you’ll be able to freely summon it.”

“PERSONA!” Claude cried. He looked expectantly around before sighing. “Nope. Nothing.”

“It takes time.” Sothis said. “Now, listen carefully. The way you get back is you just go to that room and place your hand on slab in the crypt.”

“And then what?” Byleth asked.

“No, that’s it.” Sothis said. “The room allows you to switch between the Monastery and the real world when a certain person places their hand on it, and now that you’ve been to the Monastery, either one of you can do it. I think.”

“So how did we get here originally, if we could only do it now?”

“I don’t think that’s important.”

“So, you’re going to respond to anything you don’t know with ‘I don’t think that’s important’.” Claude said. “Although … I have to be honest. We kind of would have been lost here without your help so … thanks, Sothis.”

“Hmph. Your gratitude is the least you can do.”

“It would have been nice to know everything about this world, but I guess that’s not an option.” Claude looked towards Byleth. “Teach, do you understand what this means?”

“That we’re in grave danger every second we stay here?”

“We have a mystery on our hands! We have to figure out what this place is and why its here at the university!” Claude said, a grin appearing. “I _knew_ there was something odd about this place.”

“You think that there’s something connecting the college and the Monastery?”

“Yeah! Obviously. Why else would this be here?” Claude asked. “Hey, Sothis! Do you know anything about it?”

“I think I did, once.” Sothis said. “You could always try exploring one of the Palaces that have shown up here if you want to learn more.”

“Exploring a Palace?”

“Yes. This is a realm within the subconscious, so it’s very possible to learn people’s secrets from exploring around here.” Sothis explained. Byleth couldn’t help but notice Claude’s expression growing steadily more gleeful by the moment. “Palaces are-”

There was a faint, but unmistakable rattling of chains.

“Oh, no…” Sothis turned around. “And now of all times to show up, too!”

“Him?”

“I’m not the only guardian that this place has. If you loiter around the Monastery too much when you aren’t supposed to, then _he_ shows up.” Sothis shook her head. “There’s no time. He won’t bother me, but you two can’t stay here. If you want to learn more, then come back, but only when you’re supposed to. Go!”

With that, Sothis disappeared, and once she did, Byleth and Claude ran for the crypt.

_-Garreg Mach Academy, Bunker-_

“Whew.” Claude panted. “Okay. I know I wanted a bit of excitement in my life, but that might be more then I bargained for. I’m heading back in tomorrow, want to come with me, Teach?”

“No.” Byleth shook his head firmly. “I have no intention of going back in, and neither should you.”

“What? But why?”

“It’s too dangerous, that’s why. If anything, we should tell the Headmistress.”

“Oh, no! We are not telling _anyone_ about this!” Claude said. “Do you think anyone will believe us? They’ll think we’re nuts! I can’t go around having people think I’m nuts. Besides, what’s the Headmistress going to do? Go there?”

Byleth hated to admit it, but Claude had a point.

“Besides, it’s not that dangerous for us, since you’ve got that Persona thing. What we should do is come back and have Sothis finish explaining things to us. And then we’ll do some poking about ourselves, just to check everything and make sure that we understand what’s going on. Then, once that happens, we can make a better decision on what to do next.” Claude said, calmly. “Sound like a plan?”

“Hmm. I don’t hate it, anyway. Regardless, we’re not going in tomorrow.”

“But why?”

“Because we don’t have permission.” Byleth said. “Remember how you told me that this is off-limits?”

“You think _that’s_ why we were chased out?”

“You’re the one who said that the two of them might be related.” Byleth reminded him. “Maybe they are. Maybe once we have permission and we use the bunker in some official capacity, we won’t have that problem.”

“So, we should wait until school starts? But we won’t have permission then either.”

“That’s why I have a better idea.” Byleth said. “The Headmistress wanted me to form a club. As of now, I’m starting one, and you’re invited.”

“Aw, Teach, I’m honored. Does this mean I get an easy A in your class?”

“I will grade you based on your own merits.” Byleth said firmly. “We’re going to do nothing for now, and once school starts, we’ll head back in to see what we can find.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Claude paused. “Hey, Teach? Back when you summoned your Persona? What exactly was going through your mind?”

“Why do you ask?” Byleth frowned.

“It seemed to me … nah, forget it.” Claude shook his head. “I’m curious, but even I know when to put a lid on my own curiosity. I’ll get the answers from you another time.”

Claude followed Byleth up the stairs outside, but it was night by the time the two of them emerged. Time had passed in the Monastery at a similar rate to the real world, seemingly. Interesting. Byleth made a mental note of it.

“So that’s were you two where.” The pair were interrupted by a young man in a blue and black uniform, similar in height to Claude, but with blond hair, paler skin, and built a little sturdier. “Edelgard told me earlier that the new teacher had arrived, so I wanted to introduce myself. I should have known that you were getting him in trouble, Claude.”

Claude opened his mouth to protest, but Byleth cut him off. “The fault is entirely mine. Headmistress Rhea advised me to go for a walk around the school grounds and familiarize myself with all the nook and crannies, so I asked Claude to show me around.”

“Oh. Well, that’s slightly better, I guess. Sorry, Claude.”

“No problem, Dimitri.” Claude said, cheerfully. “But hang on to that ire of yours, I’m sure that I’ll earn it eventually.”

“Only you, Claude.” Dimitri just shook his head. “Good evening, professor. I know the other two have probably told you about me, but I’d like to introduce myself all the same. Dimitri Blaiddyd, prefect of Blue Lions. I’m studying politics and law.”

“Yeah, that’s like half your house.” Claude muttered under his breath.

“Oh. The stereotype.” Dimitri said. “We don’t restrict people as where they end up, of course, but you know we have three houses, right? There are certain stereotypes associated with each house, which is how people choose.”

“Claude told me you each make a pitch at the beginning of the year.”

“That’s part of it, but there are also the stereotypes. Granted, while they don’t have any actual bearing on what you can study in each house, students find it better to associated with people studying the same things as them.” Dimitri said. “Claude’s house, the Golden Deer? They’re said to focus on economics, business, and mathematics. My house, the Blue Lions, is said to focus on law, literature, and politics. And Edelgard’s house, the Black Eagle, is the liberal sciences. Edelgard herself is a philosophy major.”

“So who should I expect a lot of in my classes?”

“I wouldn’t say any one house in particular. It’s just a stereotype.” Dimitri thought for a moment. “You’ll definitely want to pay attention to Ashe and Ingrid from my house – those two love reading. I don’t know the other houses, though.”

“No one from my house, really.” Claude said. “Except maybe Ignatz. Well, wonderful meeting with you, Dimitri, but I’ve got places to be.”

“Oh, are you actually taking responsibility? Well, good for you.”

“I’m not sure if that was an insult, so I’m not going to reply.” Claude shot the two of them with finger guns. “Later!”

“He’s a good person underneath that exterior of his, the trouble is that his exterior is so thick.” Dimitri watched Claude walk away nonchalantly. “I may envy him for that. Regardless, I look forward to taking your classes, professor.”

“Thank you, but I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be.” Byleth admitted. “Though I am a literature teacher, something like speech writing is a little outside my wheelhouse. I mostly specialize in classics.”

“But aren’t some of the greatest speeches in history found within classics?” Dimitri asked. “‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?’ I’ve always been a partial to that one, I think.”

“Shylock’s soliloquy from _Merchant of Venice_. You have impeccable taste, Dimitri.” Byleth recognized the quote. It wasn’t one of Shakespeares’s more well-known soliloquys, but any serious student of the Bard would recognize it immediately. Byleth looked up and down Dimitri’s features, noting the skin and hair. “I wouldn’t have guessed that such a speech would resonate with you, though.”

“It’s not on my behalf. It’s for a friend.”

“If you feel so strongly for such a friend, then I suppose he would be honored to have you.” Byleth said. “I look forward to teaching you, Dimitri. Have a good evening.”

“And a good evening to you as well, professor.” Dmitri nodded his head once and left.

“To bait my fish with, if nothing else…” Byleth watched him leave, going over the full speech in his head, and gave a quick shudder. Fishing usually calmed him down, but now it was probably going to set him on edge any time he thought about it for the next few days. Claude was a unique individual to be sure, but Edelgard seemed to conceal a number of secrets and while Dimitri seemed very open, the soliloquy was certainly an odd choice. _You really can’t judge a book by its cover. This is an odd college. Very odd. I think its best if I make a few calls._

Byleth headed back to his room and took out his phone. Claude didn’t want him to tell anyone else, but if something was happening, Jeralt was the most likely person to know something about it. Maybe Byleth wouldn’t tell him _everything_ , but a little context wouldn’t hurt. Byleth called his father, and immediately hit the answering machine.

_“You’ve reached the answering machine of archeologist Jeralt Eisner. Unless you’ve unearthed the discovery of the century, and I mean that literally, I’d rather if you didn’t bother me, so don’t leave a message. And if your name is Alois, I don’t care even if you have found the discovery of the century. Stop calling me.”_

“Hey, dad, this is Byleth. I arrived at the academy but something … weird … happened. Would you happen to know anything about the bunker at the edge of school grounds or the monastery this academy is based off of? What’s a monastery doing on the US West Coast anyway?”

Byleth sighed as he hung up. Answering machine, which meant his father’s phone was either switched off, dead, or otherwise not somewhere it would get service. Well, his father would be at the academy within a few days, so he could talk then, and he’d warned Claude against going in so Claude wouldn’t go in before then. Hopefully, Claude would listen to him – Claude didn’t seem like the person who listened well, but also didn’t seem like an idiot.

 _This is getting very weird._ Byleth decided. He looked back over his contact list. He spent most of his childhood being homeschooled by his father as they traveled the world going to various digs or discoveries. Consequently, Byleth didn’t have much in the way of close friends. Still, there should be at least one person who he was sure would be of help for exploring the Monastery. He scrolled through the list, hoping for inspiration. And then, oddly enough, he found it.

_Well, if I’m going to explore it, I might as well be well equipped. Persona or not, that place seems dangerous. Guns aren’t allowed on campus, and I don’t want to break the rules. But I know someone who has just what I need all the same. Besides, didn’t Tolkien once write an article on why guns were terrible weapons against monsters? Let’s just hope he’s right._

Byleth called the number. After a few rings, it was picked up.

 _“Hello? Anna’s Armory, for all your costume, LARPing, or Renaissance Fair needs,”_ a cheerful voice answered on the line. “ _How can I help you, today?”_

“It’s me, Anna. Byleth Eisner.”

_“Byleth? Oh, Jeralt’s kid! I remember you. What can I do for you?”_

“You know my sword? The one dad gave me and that I left in your shop. Would you mind shipping it up to me? I’ll text you my address.”

 _“Aren’t you a teacher, now? Why would you want a sword?”_ Anna sounded confused. _“Wait, say no more, I totally get it. Corporal punishment, huh? A bit hardcore, going with an authentic sword like that, but I like your style.”_

“It’s not like that!”

_“Of course it isn’t. Can I also interest you in any of our other weapons, including our very nice line of replica whips? I even have one that’s a perfect copy of the one Indiana Jones uses…”_

“Ha ha, Anna. Take that spiel elsewhere.” Byleth sighed, regretting the words that were about to come out of his mouth. “Also … correct me if I’m wrong, but you do custom work, right? As in, authentic sword and armor forging?”

_“Byleth… what are you getting into? Why do you want me to send you your sword and why are you ordering more?”_

“Would you believe me if I said that I wanted to start a sword collection and I wanted to get back into sword training?”

 _“I’ve heard better lies, but sure I’ll believe that. As long as you’re willing to pay me, that’s all I really care about. I can have your sword shipped up to you within the week, but a new order means that I’ll have to get that baby custom forged, and that’s_ time _and_ money _. Though obviously less time if you’re willing to give me more money. You want to give me specifics on it?”_

“Hand-and-a-half, two inches shorter than usual to compensate for my reduced height, best steel you have available. Nothing fancy on the guard or the pommel. Prioritize function over form.” Byleth said. The sword Jeralt had gotten him was a good sword – but one custom made for him would be even better.

_“Should be good enough. Alright, your old sword will be there soon, and I’ll have the new one shipped up within the month. You want anything to go with that?”_

“A full gambeson coat and a pair of gauntlets, if you can get them in my size. I’ll text that to you later. Plus, oh, a thick pair of boots. All as authentic as possible please. Armor grade gauntlets, made from real modern steel, not just something with the appearance.”

_“You’re really getting into this whole Renaissance Fair thing, aren’t you? Well, your dad’s pretty into it, so I don’t blame you. Yeah, I can do that. I’ll even through in a discount if you get the gambeson with a hood attachment.”_

“And free shipping?”

_“Do I look like I’m made of money over here?”_

“You certainly give the impression.”

 _“Well, that’s because I_ don’t _do things like free shipping! Honestly, how is a gal supposed to make a decent profit these days with all these cutthroat business practices flying around. It’s un-American, that’s what it is.”_

“Fine. I’ll pay for shipping. But skip the hood, I’m never going to wear something that blocks my field of vision like that.”

_“Well, the customer is always right. I’ve got your order, and I’ll have it taken care of in no time. I’ll have it charged to your account.”_

“Thanks, Anna. You’re the best.”

 _“Don’t I know it!”_ There was a click from her end.

“And now, to finish unpacking, and to bed.” Byleth said, exhaling heavily. “I think this day has really taken it out of me.”

_-???-_

“Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Byleth looked around. He’d been off to sleep, and now he was in a room, a room which looked like a cathedral of some sort. “Oh, no. Am I in the Monastery again?”

“In a manner of speaking…” Igor said. “This is the Velvet Room. You’ve been to the Monastery, which takes place in the world of the subconscious. Think of this room as the place in between the conscious and the subconscious.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Igor said, as if it answered the question. “This is the Velvet Room, a place where only those who have a ‘contract’ can enter.”

“A contract?” Byleth narrowed his eyes. “I don’t remember signing anything with you.”

“Exceptions are made from time to time when necessary, particularly for the first meeting. This room is especially useful to people like you.” Igor was shuffling through a set of cards and flipped one over on the table. “People who are Wild Cards.”

The flipped over card was a blank figure with a numeral zero underneath it. Byleth had read enough fantasy to recognize it for what it was immediately.

“That’s a tarot card. The number zero?” Byleth said. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“The Fool is a very important card. While it is empty, it also holds the most potential.” Igor held up the card. “You are like this card. You are about to embark on a great journey ahead of you, and it’s very important that you fill that potential as fast as you can.”

 _I’m empty, yet I’m full of potential, huh? Well, he got one part of that right, and it’s uncomfortably close to home._ “A journey? I know tarot cards symbolize a journey from The Fool to The World. But what do you mean fill? And what do you mean by journey?”

“You are the ‘Strategist’, a Wild Card chosen to bring light to the darkness surrounding the Monastery.” Igor said. “More, you must discover for yourself, but I have every confidence that you will be able to.”

“Ah. Cryptic answers.” Byleth said. “So this isn’t the kind of story where the protagonist gets told everything at the start.”

“I think you’ll find the answer lies within you.” Igor waved his hands and six more cards appeared. “There are those around you who possess power, and you may use that power to help you and find the answers you seek. Or, ultimately, you may not. The choice is up to you.”

“The Magician, The Empress, Chariot, Wheel of Fortune, Temperance, and Judgement.” Byleth looked over the cards. “Is this a fortune telling?”

“No. These are the souls that you have connected with. Strengthen your bond with them, forge bonds with others, and you shall gain power.” Igor said. “Now, there are two other things I will tell you. Though I am the master of the Velvet Room, I rarely interact with guests. Usually I have one of my assistants aid me, but this will be a special case that you are going through, so I shall allow you two. Allow me to introduce my assistants.”

A tall man with dark green hair and a young woman with bright green hair stepped out of the shadows.

“My name is Flayn.” Flayn introduced herself first, bright and cheerful. “I’ll handle training your Personas and teaching them new skills, should you require it from me.”

“I am Seteh.” Seteh said, his voice somewhat colder than the woman. “I have been placed in charge of fusing your Personas. If you find that your power is lacking, which it will be, then I’ll do my duty to aid you.”

“Fusion? Training? I don’t understand.” Byleth said. “I have a Persona, but it’s only one. What am I supposed to do with it?”

“All in good time.” Igor said. “But, for now, you must sign a ‘contract’ in order to be allowed access to the Velvet room in the future.”

“What kind of contract?”

“All I ask is that you keep in mind the full consequences of your actions and that you take full responsibility for them, come what may.” Igor said.

“Is that all?” Byleth said. “I’ve already signed one of those today.”

“Have you, now? Ah, yes. Rhea would make you sign one. Well, then. I suppose, if that’s the case, I can make an exception to my normal rule and I can give you this.” Igor gave Byleth a single old key with a curious design. “This is the key to the Velvet Room. I will see you again.”

“You know Rhea? What’s going on here?”

“It’s not my habit to speak of other guests of the Velvet Room.” Igor said. “In time, you’ll learn just what has happened. Good luck … Strategist.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Byleth’s Persona: Hannibal of Barca,  
> Resist: Fire, Weak: Ice  
> Notable Abilities: Access to Fire and Physical abilities. But, given that this is a Wild Card’s starting Persona, in actual gameplay, it’s not that strong and won’t learn new moves. Of course, since this a fic, that rule might not apply and Byleth might use Hannibal a lot longer than most starting Wild Card personas.  
> Hannibal Barca Carthage’s main general during the Second Punic Wars and was history’s opposite number to Scipio Africanus. His most notable victory was at Cannae, aka the battel of ‘perfect encirclement’. He’s also the son of Hamilcar Barca, a Carthage general who fought Rome in the first Punic Wars. Given his tactical acumen and his legacy, it only felt right to use him as Byleth’s starting persona. He’s weak to ice because he relied on elephant to form the shock troops of his army, and they mostly died crossing the Alps.


	3. Meet the Golden Deer

_\--Teacher’s Lounge-_

_It’s official_ , Byleth thought, _there are too many teachers at this school. There isn’t, but there’s no way that I’m going to remember everyone here._

A day before the first classes, since all the teachers had arrived, there was a small meeting of a sort to allow the teachers to meet back together and catch up before the school year began. Rhea was responsible for organizing it, but she wasn’t present, stating that she felt that her presence would dull the mood.

Byleth hadn’t talked to her since he’d been to the Monastery. After spending a few days thinking about it, he’d concluded that Claude was right. Something was certainly strange in regards to the academy, and they’d spend the next trip in the Monastery gathering all the information they could. Until then, Byleth resolved to act as normal as possible.

Especially given that odd dream of his … was it even real? The mysterious long-nosed man had given him in a key in it, but search as he might, Byleth couldn’t find the key. Which made sense, given that it was a dream. But, with an effort of will, Byleth left his inner monologue. He wasn’t at the party to daydream, he was there to meet people. Still, there were still too many new faces that he was being introduced to in rapid succession.

“Ah, you’re Jeralt’s son? I used to work with him a long time ago,” a bespectacled professor introduced himself to Byleth. “My name is Professor Hanneman Essar. I teach the sciences here at Garreg Mach. It’s a difficult yet fulfilling job.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Professor Essar.” Byleth shook his hand. He paused. “Have we met before?”

“No, I don’t think so. I know your father, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever met you.”

“I don’t think I’ve met you either, your voice just sounds … familiar. Like I’ve heard it somewhere before.” Byleth considered. “Must be coincidence. So you’re an old veteran of the academy?”

“You could say that. I was one of the first that Headmistress Rhea recruited. Actually, she was most interested in my research at the time, which is why she hired me, and I’ve been here ever since.”

“Oh? What research was that?”

“The application of stimulated neural patterns readings using FMRI and applied to selective parts of various pre-understood magnetic patterns in regards to cognitive structures.” Professor Hanneman said. “It’s a niche field, and not a lot of people are interested.”

Byleth was _sure_ the professor had answered his question in English but couldn’t make heads or tails of what exactly the professor had said. “Sounds absolutely fascinating, professor, but a bit outside of my field of expertise.”

“Why, I don’t think it is at all. If you just consider the stereotypes traditionally associated with certain components of literature, such as, say the classic tropes associated with the Hero’s Journey, I think you’ll find-”

“Sorry to interrupt, Hanneman, but can I borrow Byleth for a bit? I’ll give him back.”

“Catherine, lovely to see you again.” Professor Essar said. “I was in the middle of a spirited discussion with Byleth, perhaps this can wait?”

“No, it can’t.” Byleth said quickly, taking note of the blond woman who interrupted the conversation. “I, ah, promised Catherine that I’d speak to her earlier and it’s be best if I didn’t push it off again.”

“Well, I’d hate to intrude. Kindly excuse me, then.” Professor Essar excused himself.

Byleth waited until he was sure that the professor was gone and gave a small sigh of relief, but not one that went unnoticed by Catherine.

“Thank you.” Byleth said. “It’s not that I-”

“Yeah, don’t bother with the excuses.” Catherine waved her hand. “We all know the old man is a bit stuffy. Lovable, but a bit stuffy. I’m Catherine Charon, or Coach Charon to most of the students here.”

“So, you’re the gym coach?”

“Everything athletic, from boxing to martial arts to archery to fencing and a few types of sports otherwise. And I’m technically in charge of security detail, but we don’t have to worry about that.” Catherine said. “Occasionally I get tapped to teach the odd nutrition or anatomy class, but usually I just handle the extra curricular sports stuff. I run tournaments too.”

“Fencing…?”

“Used to be professional. You’d have heard of me if you follow fencing. Had my own nickname and everything.” Catherine laughed. “Of course, those days are behind me, now. I’m just Catherine and this is my comfortable retirement job. Well, minus the comfortable part.”

“You don’t like it here?”

“No, it’s just physically demanding, so I wouldn’t describe it as _comfortable_. But I do enjoy the work, and besides I owe the Headmistress of this place a favor or two.”

“Mmm. Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“There is, but it’s private. Besides, this isn’t exactly the time or place for any of this.” Catherine said. “I just came to save you from Hanneman.”

“I guess that means I owe you a favor.” Byleth considered. “You know, I’ve done a bit of swordplay in my spare time. I can spar with you, if you’re lacking opponents.”

“ _Seriously?_ The only real opponent I have these days is the Faldarius kid, and he’s got major attitude issues. I’d really appreciate that.”

“Seriously.” Byleth confirmed. _It only makes sense, after all._ “I’m getting my equipment shipped up.”

“Well, I’m not looking a gift horse like that in the mouth. You’ve got yourself a sparring partner. I feel like the two of us will get along just fine, new teacher.”

_I am thou_

_Thou art I_

_Thou hast established a new bond_

_It brings thou closer to uncovering that which has been hidden_

_With the birth of the **Hermit** Arcana, though has obtained new powers_

Byleth was unprepared for the student sensation as he felt a bond create itself between him and Catherine. _Is this what Igor was telling me about? It feels like it. But a bond created over an agreement to spar. Well, I guess it makes sense this I’m planning on using a sword_. _Still … the Hermit? I’m not even sure what that Arcana represents. Aside from the obvious, but that doesn’t appear to be applicable to Catherine. Note to self – buy a book on tarot cards._

“Hey, you okay? You kind of zoned out there for a second.”

“Yeah. Just, uh, experiencing some dread in going up against someone who used to fence professionally, that’s all.” Byleth tried covering.

“I’ll take it easy on you.” Catherine chuckled. She spotted someone across the room. “Hey, Shamir! Well, see you, Byleth. I have an old friend to catch up with.”

Byleth was left alone to contemplate what just occurred.

_That was probably one of the bonds Igor was talking about. But the arcana he mentioned were different – the six were Magician, Priestess, Chariot, Fortune, Temperance, and Judgement._ Byleth thought. _I might as well try to solve this riddle while I can. He was probably referring to people I had already met who were crucial to my journey. But who could those be? Claude, probably, and Sothis too. But that’s just two out of six. I wonder who the other four are? And I wonder what arcana Claude and Sothis have._

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s only you, Alois.” Byleth barely glanced up. “Are you reaching here too?”

“What-!? ‘Only you’?” Alois sighed. “You know, you don’t have to be like that towards me just because I’m your father’s oldest friend.”

“The only part of that sentence he would agree with is the ‘oldest’ part. And probably not even that.”

“Ha! That was a good one, young Byleth.” Alois chuckled. “So, have you settled in here?”

“Just about. Did my father send you to check up on me?” Byleth said. “And, more importantly, where is he? Some dig or castle somewhere?”

“I don’t know myself.” Alois shrugged. “You would think he’d have more respect for his old roommate, but apparently not. Still, I heard from Headmistress Rhea that he’d be back by the time classes start tomorrow.”

“It’s like he’s avoiding this place.”

“He has fond memories of this academy, but some bad ones too.” Alois said, softly, before brightening up. “But, even still, I’m sure he’s still the same best friend I had back in college.”

“Again, he would disagree with you on most of that statement.” Byleth shook his head, but he knew that he wouldn’t get through to Alois. Jeralt had spent years trying to batter it into the man’s head that the two weren’t as good friends as Alois thought, but to absolutely no avail.

“That’s just because he prefers being the stoic type.” Alois said. “Oh, by the way, Byleth. Why do elephants paint their toenails green?”

“I’ve never heard of elephants doing that.” Byleth creased his brow. “Why _would_ an elephant pain its toenails green?”

“It’s so they can hide in jellybean jars!”

“Alois, I’ve never once found an elephant in a jellybean jar.” Byleth said patiently.

“Exactly! It works that well!” Alois finished the joke and started chuckling to himself.

Too late, Byleth had realized what exactly was going on. Alois had set him up, Byleth had walked straight into it, and now Alois was laughing at his own joke.

“You’re incorrigible, Alois.” Byleth said. “But, even while it was nice seeing you, I’d better go and introduce myself to all the other teachers who don’t already know me.”

- _First Day of Classes (Final Period)_ -

“And that’ll be all for today.” Byleth said, tapping the board. “Just keep these principles in mind when you write your essay, and I want it turned in within three days’ time. The earlier you turn it in, the earlier I grade it, and I’ve assigned essays to the whole school to gauge where everyone’s literary skills are. You do _not_ want me to grade your essay as one of the last ones after reading through dozens of them, so get them in earlier rather than later, for your own sake.”

There was some mild grumbling among the students as Byleth gave the assignment, but most of them took it well. This was the advanced writing class, but as of yet, there were only one person of note that Byleth wanted to watch out for. The youngest student, a white-haired girl with Golden Deer colors, had kept pace with what he was saying the entire time and asking questions.

_Lysithea, was it? I think I might look forward to her essay._

“Hey, Teach. You done for the day?”

“Hello, Claude. I’ve been expecting you.” Byleth nodded to the prefect who was standing in the door, cheerfully ignoring the fact that he was partially obstructing it as people attempted to leave. “Are you here for the club meeting?”

“Actually, no.”

“No?” Byleth stared at him.

“I mean, I have something I want to do first. I’d like to introduce you to the rest of the Golden Deer.”

“Is that necessary?”

“Well, yeah. For starters, I was thinking that you might want to choose some of them to join the club.” Claude winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll personally vouch for their skills _and_ their discretion. Well, everyone except Lorenz, but we aren’t inviting him.”

“And the other reason?”

“Well, it’s a good idea for you to meet the students and I’m kind of supposed to make sure that happens as prefect.” Claude said. “I know the other two prefects haven’t done it yet and I’d kind of like to wipe it in their faces the next time they get on my case.”

_I don’t think I’ll be recruiting anyone else to go into the Monastery – well, unless things drastically change._ Byleth considered. _That said … I should be meeting with the students anyway, and I wasn’t intending to explore the Monastery right now._ “Well, it certainly can’t hurt. And I wasn’t planning on holding the club meeting until the evening anyway, so I can meet up with them right now.”

“Excellent. I’ll lead the way.”

“Oh, but before you do that, though, I have something to ask you.” Byleth wanted to test his hunch. “You’re with me, right? This club might be difficult at times, but you’ll see it through with me to the end?”

“Teach, just who do you think you’re talking to? I’m Claude Reigan. I don’t leave secrets undiscovered. Of course I’m with you, down to the end, to see just how far this rabbit hole goes.”

_I am thou_

_Thou art I_

_Thou hast established a new bond_

_It brings thee closer to uncovering that which has been hidden_

_With the birth of the **Magician** Arcana, though has obtained new powers_

_Claude_ is _one of those tarots._ _Good to know. Though, again, I don’t quite remember what ‘Magician’ is supposed to represent._

“Something up, Teach? I know that expression, it’s the ‘aha! I know something that you don’t’ expression.” Claude said. “I practice mine daily in the mirror.”

“I’ll tell you later.” Byleth said. “Anyway, I let’s go meet your house.”

- _Dormitories (Golden Deer)_ -

“Well, here we are. The Golden Deer’s common room.” Claude gestured. Byleth looked in. It was built like a study room but had quite a lot more money sunk into it to upgrade the room’s luxury, something Byleth was fairly certain that the school did not pay for, meaning that it must have been one of the students. “Hey! Deers! I’m bringing in the new Teach to introduce him to all of you.”

There were half a dozen people in the room, and most of them ignored Claude’s yell. Byleth knew most of them already, either from classes he taught or from other teacher’s warnings. Lysithea was sitting at the room’s main table, her nose buried in a textbook. Sitting across from her was a short student who was sketching something on a blank notebook – Ignatz, Byleth recognized. Next to the notebook was a plate piled high with food that Ignatz’s friend Raphael was busy eating. Lorenz was sitting in an arm chair, calmly and repetitively swiping on his phone. Marianne was also sitting at the table, the far end, all alone. And, lastly, there was a woman with bright pink hair sprawled out on the room’s floor, taking a nap in a beanbag chair, snoring quietly to herself.

Claude looked at her, shook his head, and sighed. “Of course she’s asleep…”

“I think I can handle this one. I’ve always wanted to do this.” Byleth chuckled and knocked on the open door with his free hand. “Teacher on deck!”

“Wah!” The pink-haired girl’s eye snapped open. “I’m awake, teacher, I swear. I was just closing my eyes for a few moments. I was paying attention, really!”

“Hilda, that excuse only works when you’re in class.” Claude sighed.

“Hilda … Goneril? Weren’t you supposed to be in my writing class today?”

“Claude, you jerk! How could you bring a teacher here?” Hilda glared at Claude.

“Teach, this is my close friend Hilda Goneril.” Claude turned to Byleth and winked. “She’s … well, she’s possibly the laziest human being I’ve ever met. She normally spends the first few days of any semester catching up on sleep, so don’t expect her to show up anytime soon. Still, she’s surprisingly capable … in the sense that its surprising that she’s capable.”

“I suffer from serial jet lag. I need my sleep.” Hilda sat up, yawned, and stretched. “But you seem like the forgiving type, right, Professor…?”

“Byleth Eisner.” Byleth introduced. “And, seeing as how I’m a recent student myself, I can definitely understand where you’re coming from. But try to show up to my class, all right? At the very least, hand in the essays on time.”

“No problem, Professor. I’ll get right on that.” Hilda gave a thumbs-up before falling back down on the beanbag pillow and closing her eyes.

“We’re an odd assortment, that’s for sure.” Claude said. “So, you’ve just met Hilda. She may not look it, but she’s actually an army brat – her old man is a three-star general and her brother is climbing the ranks. She’s getting some kind of degree in economics or something, and … I’m really not sure what her plans are beyond that aside from sleeping. Lorenz over there is my would-be rival, from the Gloucester fortune. Also, an economics student. Kind of like me.”

“Go away, Claude. And stop slandering my name.” Lorenz didn’t bother looking up. “Please don’t be influenced by him, Professor Eisner. He can’t hope to compare himself to me.”

“Just so you know - my grades are better than his. But that’s only because I have more money so I can hire smarter people than he can to do all my homework.” Claude motioned down the table. “Next on the list we have Ignatz and Raphael. Both economics, though Ignatz minors in art and Raphael minors in eating.”

“Hello, Professor.” Ignatz looked up. “I enjoyed your class today.”

“Well, I’m glad for that.”

“Hey, Professor,” Raphael gesture to the plate in front of him, “care for a snack?”

“No, thank you. I’m trying to cut out snacking between meals.”

“Lysithea, you’ve met. She’s taken to ignoring me, lately, considering that most of our interactions end with her walking away in a huff. She’s also the youngest here – early admissions, or something. Full scholarship, too.” Claude said. “ _Super_ -genius. Very likely the smartest person is the room, including the both of us. I don’t think she has a major, she just studies everything and does it really well. Also _incredibly_ fun to tease, you should try it some time.”

Lysithea ignored him.

“Marianne back there is a little shy herself. She’s a medical student. Veterinarian, eventually.” Claude gestured. “Our resident animal whisperer. And general whisperer, too. Hey, Mariaannne! Come on, introduce yourself to the professor.”

“Oh, hello, Professor.” Marianne looked at Byleth, talking in a soft tone. “I didn’t see you walk in.”

“That’s fine. I miss seeing myself sometimes too.” Byleth waved back. “Is that everyone, Claude?”

“No.” Claude looked around. “I mean, obviously there are more students in the Golden Deer, but these are my favorite people to hang out with and play pranks on, so I wanted to introduce you to them specifically. But there’s supposed to be another. Hey, Hilda? Where’s the tomboy?”

“I heard that she was arriving late.” Hilda didn’t bother opening her eyes. “Let me sleep, Claude.”

“Who?” Byleth turned to Claude.

“Claude? Are classes over today already?” A voice came in from behind them.

“Oh, here she is.” Claude turned around. “You’re late, Leonie.”

_Leonie_?

“Well, it was hardly my fault.” A woman with auburn hair pushed past Claude and flopped onto one of the room’s chairs, dropping a heavy knapsack next to her. “Ugh. Knew I shouldn’t have relied on hitchhiking back, but there was no other way to get back from that summer dig. Maybe next time I’ll leave a few days earlier.”

“You just missed the first day.” Claude said. “You’re like Hilda, but you’ve got a better excuse at least.”

“Hey!” Hilda said. “I resent that.”

“You’re right, that was too low hanging fruit.” Claud apologized. “I’ll try to have better insults against you later.”

“Yeah, but I missed one of Jeralt’s classes!” Leonie complained. “Did anyone record it?”

“I did.” Marianne said, softly. “I thought you might want it, so I recorded it. I’ll give it to you later.”

“Thanks, Marianne. You’re the best.” Leonie turned to Claude. “So, who’s next to … oh.”

“Hello, Leonie.” Byleth said. “Long time no see.”

“ _Byleth_? What are _you_ doing here?”

“Teaching literature.”

“Of course _you’d_ teach literature. You’re the son of the greatest archeologist who ever lived and you decided that words on a page are better than what your dad does.”

“Teach, this is Leonie Pinelli, our resident Jeralt fangirl and a history student who likes getting her hands dirty on digs and explorations. But I guess I don’t have to tell you that.” Claude said. “Do you know each other?”

“Four years ago, I was helping my dad on an exploration of an old Spanish monastery.” Byleth nodded to her. “He got some local help, in the form of her, and she’s declared herself to be my dad’s successor ever since.”

“Yeah, because Jeralt is _awesome_.” Leonie said. “Well, I guess it won’t be so bad having you as a teacher, as long as you make sure to incorporate your father’s stuff into it.”

“I think you’d enjoy signing up for my third course this semester, then.”

“Maybe I’ll do it, then.” Leonie said. “Claude, where’s my work? I know the teachers would have given it to you.”

“I… uh…” Claude winced. “Oh. Right. I guess I was supposed to do that. Would you believe that I didn’t collect it because I didn’t know you were absent? I did get stuff for Hilda, though, so I guess I can make copies of all of that.”

“Hilda doesn’t have Jeralt as a teacher, though.” Leonie complained.

“So just use that as an excuse to visit Jeralt, what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want to visit him first thing in the semester and tell him that I need work for the class of his I missed!”

“I’ll get it for you.” Byleth offered. “I need to speak with him, anyway. Claude, the club is going to take place after dinner, at 7:00 pm, sharp. Make sure you’re there.”

“Wait, club?” Leonie asked. “What kind of club?”

“I’m starting an optional club which will look into the origins of various mythical monsters throughout history, pertaining to their myths, origins, and appearance in culture throughout.” Byleth said. “It promises to be a little more hands-on than otherwise expected.”

“Can I join? That sounds amazing!”

“No.” Byleth said firmly. “Claude is the only member for now.”

“Are you sure, Teach?” Claude asked. “I think Leonie could be pretty helpful, given her knowledge and skills.”

“Drop it, Claude.” Byleth gave him a meaningful look. “I’m still new to this, so I’d rather a trial run for now before I start allowing in new members.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense.” Claude conceded.

“Have a good evening, Deers.” Byleth excused himself.

_-Jeralt’s Office-_

“How are you settling in here?” Jeralt was sitting back in his office and reclining with his feet up so his rugged leather boots rested on the desk, headless of the paperwork it was crushing. Jeralt’s opinion of paperwork was that it was for people who had nothing better to do with their time. Byleth, given his literature background and that he’d had experience filing paperwork for Jeralt, was slightly more sympathetic to words written on the page, but not sympathetic enough to said paperwork to actually protest.

“I’ve been good.” Byleth said. “Though its just been the first day of classes for me. But the students and the staff seem … colorful.”

“Yeah.” Jeralt chuckled. “It’s gotten worse in my absence. You’ll fit right in.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Don’t mention it. So what was that message you left me on the phone a week ago?”

“Do you not know anything about the bunker or the monastery?”

“Let me see…” Jeralt said. “The monastery is Spanish in origin, naturally. Built, by my best guess, sometime before 1800, though not much before. Maybe around 1780? On the other side of the continent, a war was going on, but on this side was a bunch of gold-loving Spaniards looking to colonize it. Of course, it was eventually abandoned and when America took California over, it was turned into a school. The bunker is the real bit of trivia – you wouldn’t know it from the outside, but it wasn’t built in the 1950s during the rise of the Cold War – it was actually built before that, in 1942. The people in charge of the place feared a Japanese bombing run and built a bunker to protect the students. It’s passed through quite the number of owners since then, the latest among them being Rhea.”

“Huh. So the building is over 200 years old?”

“Updated with modern amenities, of course, but yes. I rather enjoy it. Of course, in Europe, a building being 200 years old might as well be freshly built, but its relatively old for building in North America.” Jeralt scratched his chin. “Unfortunately, the monastery had nothing truly interesting about it – I love my revisionism of history as much as the establishment hates it, but contrary to rumors, I don’t make things up from whole cloth.”

Jeralt Eisner was both an archeologist and a historian, but more importantly, he was a revisionist. Jeralt enjoyed nothing more than unearthing finds which cast doubts onto large swaths of history and had in fact written a detailed book explaining why, in his personal belief, every major dated event before the years 300 CE had its date incorrect or fabricated.

Needless to say, he was controversial among the history crowd.

“I encountered something strange in the bunker.”

“You mean the old legends about it being haunted. Don’t bother with that, its just a rumor.” Jeralt blithely shrugged it off. “They had that going back to the last time I worked here. You know college kids – they jump at rumors.”

_So he doesn’t know about the Monastery._ Byleth thought. _I mean, I don’t think he would have, but even still … is he hiding something from me? Father was never very forthcoming with details about his work here or his past._

“I’d recommend you stay away, though.” Jeralt shrugged. “And keep everything that Rhea tells you with a grain of salt, alright?”

“I never mentioned Rhea…”

“You didn’t have to, I know her well and telling you to explore the school grounds or telling you about the rumor is something she’d do.” Jeralt said.

“She seems nice enough.”

“Hmm. That’s not an inaccurate way of describing her, I guess. And she definitely has a soft spot for you, though I have no idea why.” Jeralt said. “Feel free to drop your guard, at least partially, around her.”

“Drop my guard?”

“It’s been up this entire time. You think I couldn’t tell?” Jeralt took his feet off the desk. “The façade you maintain – I can see through it. Always have been able to, and always will.”

Byleth’s expression flickered – all signals of expression he kept on his face to monitor the changes of emotions started fading away, almost as if his face began to reset to whatever default it was made at as Byleth slowly relaxed his face.

“I wouldn’t call it a ‘guard’, exactly.” Byleth considered. “A mask? But that’s something that people know is fake and made to hide their real identity. The whole point of my personality is that the students _don’t_ know it’s a mask.”

“You don’t need to feign emotion all the time.” Jeralt said. “It’s like I told you. Just let the emotions out normally. And it would really help if you stopped acting – or at least stopped acting around the people close to you.”

“I don’t think I can do that.” Byleth looked aside. “It’s best if I keep it up. I’m empty inside. We both know that. The students would much rather interact with Byleth Eisner, a caring teacher who’s willing to overlook a few mishaps than Byleth Eisner, a man who doesn’t care.”

_Claude thinks I’m something like him because he can joke around me about his pranks and misbehavior, not to mention that I was lenient several times today. But that’s just because I can’t really bring myself to get personally attached or offended. My behavior is modeled after that – I try to be laid-back when possible because I don’t feel strong emotions. Well. Today excepted, possibly._ Byleth frowned. _That was an odd sensation that the Persona caused. It definitely bears further investigation._

“Something on your mind?” Jeralt chuckled. “You know if you’re so worried about being a misfit, that could be a good start to your emotions.”

“My emotions exist, dad. You know that. I can still feel curiosity, fear, doubt, and anger. They’re just shallow. Shallow enough to feign deeper ones, thankfully. There are negative repercussions for deviating from social norms.” Byleth said, frowning. “And even if I’m willing to pay them, its best that those around me, you included, don’t have to suffer.”

“So, you care for your old man?”

“Of course. That much, I’m capable of.”

“Heh. You know, it’s at times like this you remind me of her.”

“Mom?”

“She was like you when I first met her – completely out of touch with her emotions.” Jeralt smiled wistfully. “I didn’t even fall in love with her at first, all I wanted was just to make her smile genuine. I think this position might be good for you. You’ll lower your guard, and maybe you’ll start being able to have emotions like everyone else.”

“Maybe.” Byleth’s answer was non-committal.

“Well, I’ve said my piece, so all I can do now is hope for the best.” Jeralt said.

“By the way, do you have Leonie Pinelli’s assignment for the day?”

“Oh, the girl who wants to be my apprentice? There’s no point. I know she was working all summer, and that’s a lot better than the welcome-back assignment I gave out. She gets an ‘A’ for the day. Feel free to tell her that.”

“I will. Have a good night, Father. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a club to run.”

“So I’ve heard.” Jeralt grinned. “Have fun with that, alright?”


	4. The Magician and The Wheel

- _Monastery_ -

“And we’re back. It’s like we never left. Looks the same.”

“I’d hazard a guess that that’s a good thing.” Byleth said, looking around the crypt. “Presumably, if this world represents the ‘mental state’, any sudden shift would indicate a shift in someone’s emotional state around here.”

“Odd. Shouldn’t this world be constantly shifting, then?” Claude asked. “I mean, I can’t speak for everyone else, but my inner world is kind of a storm of inner thoughts. Hmm. Mystery for another time, I guess, though I do really want those answers.”

“If you had a catchphrase, that would be it.” Byleth said. “As your teacher, Claude, I think I feel the need to dispense some valuable old mentor advice. Be mindful of what’s around you, but not at the expense of the present moment.”

“…Why do I feel like you’ve just quoted something?”

“Doesn’t matter. We need to get ready to explore the Monastery.”

“Well, in that case, I see great minds think alike.” Claude complimented Byleth as the teacher unwrapped his pack and started arming himself. “I, too, brought a weapon along this time. Just in case I needed one.”

“A weapon, huh?” Byleth drew his old sword and held it up, taking a few experimental swings with it. He slipped the sheath into his belt and carefully sheathed his sword, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice. “What have you brought to the party?”

“A good old-fashioned bow.” Claude withdrew a compact metal frame and set it into a recurve bow with a few deft motions before stashing a quiver on his back. “I took up archery as a hobby a few years ago. I’m a pretty good shot with this recurve. Just hope I don’t run out of arrows.”

“Congratulations, you’ve jinxed us.”

“Hey, don’t be like that, Teach!” Claude paused, and closed his mouth. “Okay, no, I guess I did jinx us.”

“How long are you two going to stand there, arguing?” The pair looked up to see Sothis standing at the top of the crypt’s exit, staring very judgmentally at them. “Come on! You might have permission this time, but that doesn’t mean you should just stand there. Do they teach you nothing in that academy you’re from?”

“How _do_ you know we’re from an academy?” Claude asked.

“Obvious. This is the Monastery formed from the thoughts of those that attend it. You can’t help but know.” Sothis bore a haughty look on her face.

Byleth just shrugged as he made his way up, emerging from the crypt with Claude in tow. The three of them stared out onto the mostly unchanged monastery grounds.

“Sothis … just what are you?” Byleth asked. “You said you’re a guardian?”

“I must be. Why else would I be here?” Sothis paused, thinking. “I … no. I can’t remember anything else. If it’s important, I’ll remember it eventually.”

“I say we explore.” Claude said. “That seems to be the best way to figure everything out.”

“What makes you say that?” Byleth said.

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? I thought about this a lot since we were last here.” Claude said. “You said this place had everyone’s secrets last time, didn’t you? I don’t think you’re holding secrets from us deliberately, but even still, your secrets have to be somewhere around the monastery, right?”

“Well, when you put it like that,” Sothis said, “it does kind of make sense. And it’s not entirely wrong. You aren’t completely stupid, for a human.”

“Yeah, yeah. And you’re not completely arrogant, for a whatever-you-are.” Claude said. “Alright. I’m proposing that we trust you, insofar as we can get your memories back. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if we find those, we’ll figure out why the monastery is here. Sound alright with you, Teach?”

“That’s really all I care about anyway. Why _is_ the Monastery here in the first place?” Byleth said. “But, as long as we’re all in agreement on this, I think we can proceed from here. The three of us, together, will make a pact to uncover all the secrets of this place that we can.”

“Very well.” Sothis put her hand forward. “All for one and one for all as they say.”

_I am thou_

_Thou art I_

_Thou hast established a new bond_

_It brings thee closer to uncovering that which has been hidden_

_With the birth of the **Fortune** Arcana, thou has obtained new powers_

“Byleth?” Sothis blinked as the now-familiar sensation ran through Byleth. “What just happened?”

“You felt that too?”

“Of course I did.” Sothis said. “Ah. You’re a Wild Card. You might have mentioned that sooner. No. Judging by your expression, you have no idea what you are, do you? Or what a wild card is. Well, I can’t blame you for your earlier actions if you have no idea the power you have. But I suppose it falls on me to teach you.”

“And just when I start trusting her, she whips out something new that she hasn’t told us.” Claude shook his head, sighing. “Well, I guess this whole ‘trust’ thing is going to have to be a work in progress.”

“I _am_ familiar with the term…” Byleth said. “…but, I’ll be honest – I have no idea what it actually means.”

“Wait, you’re keeping secrets from me, Teach?” Claude said. “That hurts.”

“Not intentionally. I just- well, it would sound odd for me to explain it.” Byleth said. He didn’t believe that odd dream with the long-nosed man himself. “Let’s just say I had a premonition about it, but not a very helpful one. I know I’m a Wild Card, and that’s about it. Sothis, can you tell me anything?”

“I can. But it’s going to be easier if you experience it firsthand yourself. I’ll explain what I can then, I promise.” Sothis said. “And, while we’re doing that, we should have to unlock your Persona, Claude. The best place to do that is a Palace, so I suppose it’s time for me to show you what a Palace is.”

- _Neglected Palace of Sloth_ -

“ _This_ is a palace!” Sothis said. “A Palace is a place of twisted subconscious, where someone’s internal emotions have grown so powerful that they’ve affected the subconscious around them. Palaces usually have an associated emotion attached with them. This is the only Palace in the Monastery right now. It’s also the oldest Palace that I know of.”

“That sentence implies that there have been previous Palaces?” Claude noted.

“Have there been? I do not recall.” Sothis said. “All I know is that this is the oldest Palace I can remember, and it’s the only one here right now. There may have been others at some point.”

The palace in question was on the monastery’s second floor, out of one of the rooms in the hallway. They opened the door, but instead of a small room there was a giant maze of blank, dull corridors, seemingly forgotten and abandoned by time. Byleth frowned at the slight headache it caused him.

“So … we seem to be ignoring the conventional laws of conservation of mass, then.” Byleth said. “This room is a lot bigger on the inside.”

“Nice one, Teach! I was going to make an _Inception_ reference, but the good Doctor works as well.”

“Doctor … Who?” Byleth stared at Claude blankly.

“It’s… oh. You weren’t making a reference, were you? Do you, um, watch movies or TV shows? Like, at all?”

“I prefer reading.”

“Of course you do. We’re going to have to work on that, Teach. Just because you’re the literature professor doesn’t mean that you have to be allergic to moving pictures.” Claude coughed. “Anyway, there’s a movie called _Inception_ – which you should definitely watch, by the way – where the characters go into dreams and use crazy architecture that’s not possible in the real world. I guess this is kind of like that?”

“Not exactly.” Sothis said. “Think of the Monastery like a central dream that connects to different dreams. The door we just walkthrough brought us to a different dream which is so strong its bleeding into the rest of the dreams. Except, just swap dreams for subconscious.”

“Ah, so the Monastery is a hubworld. Got it.” Claude nodded.

“I think I have a better understand of where we are, Claude’s nonsensical mumbling aside.” Byleth said. “So this is formed out of a distorted emotion? Sothis, do you know which one?”

“This? This is the Neglected Palace of Sloth. I … can’t say I know the owner, but I believe that it’s a function of the nature of the Palace. This Palace is currently ‘asleep’ right now.” Sothis said. “But if we can figure out who it belongs too, even if we don’t reach the center, we might be able to start learning about why the Monastery exists.”

“So, all we do is explore it for now?” Claude asked. “Are we looking for something in particular?”

“At the center of a Palace is something which causes the Palace – it’s called a Relic.” Sothis said. “Think of it like a crystallization of a subconscious’s desires or wants. If we find that …” Sothis trailed off and paused, lost in thought.

“What happens when we find that?” Claude asked.

“Must I explain everything to you?” Sothis huffed. “Well, it’s not like it matters right now. You’ll see once we get it. Let’s proceed onwards.”

“Do you have a weapon?”

“Why would I need a weapon when I have a Persona?”

“Byleth has a weapon.”

“I do have a weapon.” Byleth agreed. “But I’m not sure that I’d really need it, given my Persona. Your weapon might be more useful to you.”

“Well, thanks, Teach.” Claude removed an arrow and gently placed it on the bowstring, ready to pull back if need be. “Guess I’m not taking point, then. Which of you two is it?”

“That’ll be me.” Byleth stepped forward, holding his sword in a guard position. “Claude, I want you behind me. Sothis, can you come last?”

“Hmm. Not an unintelligent idea.” Sothis appraised. “Very well.”

The three of them got into position and slowly started walking into the maze of corridors. They’d made it a few hundred feet, with the entrance still in sight, when black goo started forming in the corridor ahead of them.

“And, right on cue…” Claude said, drawing back his arrow. “Shadows at twelve o’ clock, Teach.”

“I see them. Well, I don’t mind the opportunity to do a little training.” Byleth focused and his Crest manifested itself upon him. “Come forth, Hannibal!”

“Bahamut, aid me!”

Byleth’s Persona manifested itself behind him, the same armored man that had shown up the previous time they were in the Monastery. Sothis’s Persona showed up too, an almost-translucent dragon that crouched over the small girl protectively.

“Hey, you noticed how Teach’s Persona is more defined than yours is?” Claude said.

“That’s because you two just can’t see mine clearly.”

“Focus, please.” Byleth said. A pair of snowman-like creatures appeared in front of the group. Byleth kept his sword ready. “Claude, attack one. I want to see how well that bow of yours works.”

“At your command, Teach.” Claude released his bowstring with a musical twang, sending the arrow forward, sinking it between the eyes of one of the snowmen with unerring accuracy. The snowman promptly fell over from it, and the other one charged the group.

“Agi!” Byleth commanded, having Hannibal blast the unfortunate creature with fire. The snowman took the brunt of the explosion and came out of it dazed, unable to react as Byleth lunged forward and slashed clean through its neck with his sword. The snowman dissolved into a pile of black goo.

“Hee-ho!”

Byleth spun and raised his guard as the first snowman got back up and attacked him, ignoring the arrow between its eyes. Byleth blocked the attack, deflecting it but taking some of the brunt of the blow. But, before it could hit him again, another arrow hit it first and sent it skittering aside.

“My arrows can’t kill those things. That’s kind of unfortunate. Still, I’d say they’re good enough to keep them distracted so either one of you could take them out.” Claude said, nocking a third arrow. “Speaking of which, Sothis…?”

“There’s no point – its not weak to Bless attacks, but it is weak to Fire. Byleth’s Persona is more suited than mine.” Sothis said. “Still, I’ll lend aid where I can. Bahamut – use Dia!”

Green light lit up around Byleth, sending away the pain and giving him back his energy, letting him get to his feet earlier.

“Hold on a moment. These things have strengths and weaknesses against certain elements, and your Personas have different elements too.” Claude turned to Sothis. “So … this is basically Pokemon? Because, I will tell you, I never actually got how most of the type matchups worked and I just won by overleveling my starter.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

Byleth ignored the two in the background and approached the fallen creature. It was almost pitiful, really – Claude’s arrows had done more than he thought and it was almost dying. Byleth spun his sword once in a single flourish and then sunk his blade into the shadow, stabbing it where its heart should be. The creature turned to black goo, but as it did so, a part of it swarmed up his blade and into him.

Byleth frowned and stepped back, looking around. There was no goo on him, nor on his sword, and he didn’t feel any different. Had he just imagined that? Possibly. But there was this odd feeling within him now.

“Byleth? Are you alright?” Sothis asked.

_Hee-ho!_

“I think so.” Byleth said. “Did you just see what happened right now?”

“No. I thought you more than capable of handling a pair of Jack Frosts, so my attention was diverted.” Sothis said. “Claude was attempting to explain to me what a ‘JRPG’ was? Something about capturing monsters and sending them forth to fight other people’s monsters.”

“Claude?” Byleth stared at him.

“Sothis told me that these shadow things have their own strengths and weaknesses, so I naturally compared it to Pokemon, and she has no idea what that was, so I was trying to explain it to her.” Claude said. “So, apparently, it’s slightly different – the attacks have elements like Pokemon, but the shadows don’t have types – they just have resistances and weaknesses. So, Sothis, for instance, is weak to Curse type attacks.”

“And what am I weak to?”

“I can sometimes tell by looking at one.” Sothis said. “Hmm. I think you’re weak to … ice?”

“Is that how you know what these Personas are weak against?”

“No. These are just weak Personas that I’ve fought before.” Sothis said. “Shall we move on? The Palace isn’t going to explore itself, you know.”

- _Forgotten Palace of Sloth_ -

Initially, they decided to just go straight, but when they kept walking for minutes and saw nothing, they realized they’d need a new approach. Claude, for his part, pulled out a piece of paper and revealed that he’d actually been marking the way that they were going the whole time. Sothis responded that she’d had the whole thing memorized and didn’t need a map to begin with. Byleth had quickly shot down the argument by pointing out that redundancies were useful, so they both could keep it up, and they needed to figure out which way to go, left or right.

Ultimately, it was decided by the shadows.

“So, here’s my thought.” Claude pointed down the corridor were more shadows were forming. “Those things are the scraps of other people’s subconsciousness, right?”

“Not exactly, but close enough.”

“Right. So, if we go to where they’re clustered, we might find the heart, right?” Claude said. “They’d cluster around the center of the Palace because that’s were all the strong emotions congregate.”

“Not exactly. Usually, Palaces are a bit more … creative in nature than a simple maze.” Sothis considered. “Perhaps the fact is that this is Sloth, and therefore no effort was put into maintaining it.”

“Oh. Jolly.” Claude said. “So … we’re not going to get to the end of Palace today, are we?”

“I would venture to guess that we’re not going to be getting to the bottom of this Palace anytime soon.” Sothis said. “It would be best to just consider this an excursion to get acclimated to the Monastery.”

“Stay sharp.” Byleth said. “Pyro Jacks incoming.”

The shadows ahead of them solidified into the pumpkin headed creatures and started moving towards the group. Claude fired an arrow and took one of them out cleanly. Sothis gestured once, and Bahamut appeared, blasting through them with powerful light spells.

Byleth prepared to summon forth Hannibal but paused as a faint _Hee-ho!_ Sounded in the back of his mind. He had a faint recollection of just what Sothis had called the snowman-like creature he had defeated.

“Jack Frost!” Byleth said, acting on instinct as a new Crest design appearing on him. The snowman Persona appeared behind him as Byleth gestured. “Bufu!” Ice crystals exploded over the battlefield, hammering into the Pyro Jack that was opposed to him. Claude’s arrow finished it off.

“Huh.” Byleth said, considering. “That was useful.”

“…Yup.” Claude nodded. “This is Pokemon. Knew it.”

“A second Persona…” Sothis said. “So, you truly _are_ a Wild Card.”

“Are you going to _explain_ that?” Claude said. “So, Byleth can use a second Persona because he’s a Wild Card? What kind of sense does that make?”

“It’s the signature ability of the Wild Card.” Sothis said. “A Shadow is the true form of a person’s subconscious – for instance, my Bahamut represent the shadow of my soul. Naturally, as each person only has one personality, you are limited to one Persona at a time, for the most part. The Wild Card is the exception. For whatever reason, they seem to have the ability to gain the power of the shadows they face and augment their own Personas with them. You have a valuable talent, Byleth.”

_Fascinating. So, in this world, it seems that having a blank inner self is an advantage._ Byleth focused. _The power of the Wild Card must act like a joker – it can substitute for any other card. And, it seems that I can still call upon Hannibal within me. I wonder how many I can have at once?_

“Claude? I believe its time to see exactly what the limits of my ‘Wild Card’ powers are.” Byleth said.

“Well, now. Traveling around this maze trying to figure out the secret behind it and behind your weird nonsensical powers at the same time?” Claude grinned. “I think I can handle that.”

In the span of around two hours traveling and fighting Shadows, Byleth had acquired three new Personas and had learned a few things about the nature of his powers. His roster now included the Personas Angel, Slime, and Pixie. Not the actual beings of course, just the perceived manifestations of them. Byleth thought it important to make that distinction, just like how his Persona Hannibal wasn't actually Hannibal, just a construct created by subconscious belief to fill a void withing him. In regards to recruting new Personas, he and Claude hadn’t exactly figure out the exact nature of the way it worked, but whenever Byleth defeated a shadow, there was a chance of some sort that it would seek to join him.

They were still walking in circles though, and it was starting to get very stale.

“I’m out of arrows.” Claude announced. “I’m out of arrows, and this is _stupid_!”

“Claude?” Byleth asked.

“No, this is aggravating! It’s like torture for me! I stumble upon the secret to end all secrets, a secret world composed of only the subconscious within my incredibly shady and mysterious college which no doubt had everything that certain people within it would to remain buried forever. And you know what? _It’s still buried!_ ” Claude snapped. “There’s nothing here! This is supposed to be the subconscious where people hide things, but apparently it’s hidden so well that we can’t find it! We’ve been walking in circles for hours, and we’ve found nothing, nothing at all.”

“I know this is bad, but still-”

“I want to know what’s happening here! I want to know this place’s secrets!” Claude grit his teeth. “I’m not the type of person to typically get angry, Teach, but this place has been custom made to dangle a carrot in front of me and never let me actually have it. It’s tantalizing beyond all belief, and to make things worse, I don’t even have a persona.”

“You can’t obtain a Persona just because you want to…” Sothis said. “They only show up in the time of great need or under specific circumstances.”

“Well, I would consider _this_ a time of great need and specific circumstance!” Claude shot back. “I want to learn these secrets and all I am right now is completely useless! I’d give half my fortune to find out what’s going on here.”

“Really?” Sothis tilted her head. “You desire information that much? You’re a curious one, Claude Riegan.”

“Where I come from, we have a saying that knowledge is power. And I believe that. But knowledge is power only when its known and used.” Claude clenched his fist. “Secrets do no one any good if they’re all locked up and hidden from everyone. I want that power, too. I want the power of Persona.”

_“Golden Deer, does thou wish to make a contract?”_

“…Did you hear that?” Claude paused.

_“Golden Deer, does thou wish to make a contract?”_

“I stand corrected.” Sothis said. “I suppose you can obtain a Persona just because you want to. Though I wonder what Persona it is exactly that would make such an offer.”

“Sothis, is he-?”

“Just be quite and watch, Byleth.” Sothis smiled. “It seems like your friend Claude here is very exceptional. Very exceptional indeed.”

_“I can make a contract with you to give you the knowledge you seek, Claude Riegan. But you should know that there’s always a price to be paid for such knowledge.”_

“Who are you, Faust? Stop trying to scare me off!”

_“Very well. If you desire knowledge that much, I’m in no position to stand in your way. I shall lend you my power, and we shall see if you pay the same price that I paid for mine. Say my name and call me forth!”_

Claude doubled over, suddenly, groaning as he clearly was consumed by the same pain that Byleth experienced when he summoned his Persona for the first time. A symbol, a similar crest to the one Byleth had but a different design entirely, started appearing, inking itself on one side of Claude’s face, crossing over to cover his eyelid.

_“I see in you the same thirst for knowledge, the same paranoia, the same cunning and willingness to deceive that was within me. I look forward eagerly to see if you will pay the same price as I have. Now, call upon my power!”_

“I’ll stop at nothing to find the answers I seek. You have my word on that. Come forth, Woden of Asgard!” Claude said, clenching his hand. A one-eyed man appeared behind him, spear in one hand, and twin ravens perched on his shoulders. “Now, lend me your power and strip away the deceptions that lay before me.”

A whirl of wind spun around and blasted the blank of the walls surrounding them. The Palace shifted around them, and suddenly went from nothing more than a maze of identical corridors to a real Palace. Now, instead of them, there was an old temple, some kind of fort. It seemed vaguely Roman to Byleth’s untrained eyes, but he knew nothing aside from that.

_Fascinating._ Byleth observed. _His desire for knowledge seems to have had the same effect on him as the trauma I experienced the other day. Does that mean he thirst for answers is on the same level as my instinct to survive?_

“Woden? Makes sense.”

“Wait, it does?” Claude said, staring at the Persona behind him. “I thought-”

“You thought wrong. Woden has more in common with Loki than he does with any other mythological legend, Thor included. He’s a trickster, a prankster, and in constant search for knowledge.” Byleth said. “The difference between him and Loki is that Woden always does it with the greater good in mind, or at least _a_ greater good in mind, while Loki just does it on the spur of the moment.”

“Look sharp, you two.” Sothis said. “Now all of us have Personas, and we’ve revealed the dungeon proper. Now, let’s see just whose Palace this is…”

“Why did that work?” Byleth asked.

“Claude’s perception of the world changed.” Sothis said.

“That … doesn’t actually explain anything.”

“While Claude didn’t have access to his Persona, his ability to affect this world was limited. But, now that he _does_ have one, his desire to explore and discover the secret was strong enough to blow away the Palace host’s desire to keep the Palace hidden from view.” Sothis shrugged. “This _is_ a mental landscape, and ultimately, a lot of what happens is on an intellectual level. Many times, you might encounter doors or obstacles that can be obliterate with ease, if you just changed your mindset a little, or brought a new thought or approach to the situation.”

“And that’s what caused this to manifest?”

“Correct. This is the Palace of Sloth.” Sothis said. “I suppose the maze was in fact just that – a set of defenses meant to keep anyone without the proper motivation away. Hmm. I don’t have my memories, but I don’t think mental defenses like that are very common.”

“…So, should we enter the Palace, we’d be fighting potentially very strong opponents.” Byleth said. “In that case, let’s pull back for now.”

“Yeah… probably a good idea.” Claude agreed. “I mean, I’m kind of disappointed because I just got this Persona, but I suppose that’s for the best.”

“Back to the crypt, then.” Sothis said.

- _Shadows of the Temple_ -

“Interesting. It seems that the Monastery has interlopers.” There were two figures who stood in the shadows, silently observing the departing trio. The one who spoke wore a white-and-crimson mask, stylized after a certain famous rebel, above crimson robes to conceal them. “Though they seem to be unskilled.”

“Skilled enough to breach through the maze guarding the Palace.” The second figure was clad entirely in black, something resembling the stereotypical ninja.

“They won’t be able to get much further. The maze is remarkably easy to get through as long as you have the willpower, but the Palace itself requires a much stronger key.” The first figure paused. “Still … should they be able to somehow get in, that would be problematic. We need this Palace to be sealed a little while longer for our plans to work.”

“So, what do you intend to do about it?”

“Well, we aren’t the only ones who can come and go to the Monastery. Contact those who slither in the dark and tell them that Jeralt’s son has somehow made it in the Monastery. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to know that.”

“Won’t that help them more than it helps us? I’m not sure what they want, but…”

“No, I think its best to keep to this route for now. If I’m to get my revenger, I’ll want to make sure everyone responsible involved gets an equal chance to be on the board. Besides, I believe that was Claude back there. If he’s truly awakened a Persona, he might be a very dangerous opponent – far worse than a Wild Card who doesn’t understand his true powers. Now, send that message. We do want to keep them occupied.”

“As you wish, my Emperor.”

- _Monastery (Crypt)_ -

“Hey, Claude? Thanks for your Persona.”

“Hmm? What’s that about, Teach?” Claude grinned.

“Well, for my own reasons, I want to explore the monastery as much as I can.” _Igor’s words bother me, not to mention that his talk of my being a zero with potential sounds eerily similar to what Dad told me_. Byleth thought. He nodded at Claude. “Without you, we would never have been able to come this far.”

“Aw, you’ll embarrass me, Teach. We didn’t even get that far in, you know!”

“Nevertheless. The little progress we’ve made is thanks to you.” Byleth said. He felt a genuine sense of gratitude. “Thank you, Claude.”

“Well, what are friends for, Professor?”

Something changed inside of Byleth. He sensed the image of a tarot card inside him – the Magician – getting stronger from the exchange. The card wasn’t clearly defined, but it definitely seemed to have some kind of substance to it.

_Odd. This seems to be a relatively new sensation for me._ Byleth considered. It didn’t feel unpleasant. _I’ll have to think about this later._

“Ready to head back?” Byleth reached out and touched the crypt, sending him and Claude back. Sothis waved them goodbye as they left.

The two emerged back in the academy, very late at night. Byleth winced as he realized how late it was. If Claude was too tired the next day, it’d reflect poorly on him as a professor. Claude, as if echoing his thoughts, yawned. “Well, its kind of late, Teach. Let’s do this again, tomorrow night.”

“Next week, Claude.” Byleth said. “I hold the club once a week, so we’ll be back here next week, same time.”

“Yeah that’s a much better idea.” Claude stretched. “I’m kind of exhausted anyway. Next week it is.”

“So, can I come too next week?” The voice startled both of them. Byleth spun around with his sword towards a dark figure hanging in the back of the crypt. Claude, who had recognized the voice, just took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.

“I should have known _you’d_ be waiting to ambush us. What, did you follow us here and then stake out the place the entire time?” Claude shook his head and turned to Byleth. “Calm down, Teach. It’s just her.”

“Heh heh.” Leonie Pinelli looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She smiled nervously. "Surprised?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claude’s Persona: Woden of Asgard  
> Resists: Wind, Weak: Fire  
> Claude’s persona is Woden, from Norse mythology, a wind-based Persona. Now, isn’t Odin already an Emperor Persona? Well, I have two answers to that. 1) This is Woden, not Odin. If Cu Culainn and Setanta are two different personas, than I’m allowed this. 2) Persona classified Odin wrong. Ahem. Claude's Persona is magic-heavy with Wind elements, though he has a few Pierce-types attacks, the SoS version of the Gun element.


	5. Class is in Session

- _Garreg Mach Academy, Bunker_ -

“Leonie?” Byleth sheathed his sword and shook his head. “Sorry about that, but you just startled me. What are you doing here?”

“Better question – how long have you been down here?” Claude asked.

“Um… about four hours or so?” Leonie shrugged. “I followed the two of you in here and crept into the crypt, but you were missing. I assumed some secret door was down here so I decided to stake it out until you came back and then you … well, it kind of looked like you two showed up out of nowhere. Kind of weird. Is something going on here?”

“How could we possibly show up out of nowhere?” Byleth asked, frowning. _I don’t like lying – but I don’t need to tell her the truth either. And I’d prefer to avoid dragging people into this._ “That doesn’t seem possible.”

“I know, right? So obviously there’s some of kind of secret trapdoor here somewhere. I bet there’s hidden hydraulics or something. That’d be sweet. I never thought I’d get a chance to go exploring ruins here in the campus.” Leonie said, cheerfully. “So … are you going to tell me what you two were doing?”

“Hey, Teach? You remember those ruins? Leonie _would_ know more, right?”

“Possibly.” Byleth said. “Am I correct in thinking that you’re going to take this opportunity to bring her into the club?”

“It’s not a bad idea.” Claude replied. “Even you have to admit that.”

“I can admit that there are aspects to the idea which aren’t bad. But that’s not the same thing as the idea being actually _good._ ”

“So … _are_ you two going to tell me anything? Or are you just spend the whole night talking in vague terms?” Leonie asked. “Because, you know, I think I deserve some answers. Especially considering that you pointed a sword at me, Professor. Why do you even have that thing, anyway?”

“I use it to spar with Coach Charon, of course.” Byleth said.

“And Claude’s bow?”

“Oh, is that what this is?” Claude held the bow up and stared at it in mock shock. “I just found this lying around. A _bow_ , you say? What _is_ a bow, anyway?”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” Leonie rolled her eyes. “Last offer. Before I go talking to someone else about this club of yours, what are you two up to?”

“Are you blackmailing us?” Byleth asked, asking more out of idle curiosity than anything else.

“No! I’m just… um…”

“Pointing out the natural and inevitable consequences of our actions should we choose one of two paths, and also putting forth the argument that the other path works to the mutual benefit of all parties involved?” Claude supplied.

“Yes! That.” Leonie said. “Thanks, Claude.”

“I already know your opinion on it, Claude.” Byleth said. “But I _am_ the teacher, so I get final say in what happens. And we know what might happen if someone enters uninvited.”

“Oh, yeah. _That_.” Claude said, remembering the Reaper Sothis warned them about. “Sorry, Leonie. I _am_ on your side here, but its ultimately up to Teach.”

“Byleth, please? You know that I’m more than capable of exploring runes or archeology, or whatever it is that the two of you have been doing.” Leonie said. “Besides, I’m just going to follow you and pester you until you let me in.”

“You _know_ that I’m not my father, right? You don’t need to follow me around everywhere.” Byleth raised an eyebrow. “Besides, I don’t need you as an apprentice and this won’t necessarily get you on my father’s good side.”

“Yeah but learning alongside you is a good way to get to Jeralt’s level. I mean, say as you will, but you learned a lot from the old man.” Leonie countered. “I mean it, Byleth. I want to join you and Claude.”

_I actually don’t have many good reasons to refuse her. On the one hand, it is somewhat irresponsible of me as an instructor to allow one of my students to accompany me and possibly risk their lives. On the other hand … well, she is a mature woman who can make her own decisions and she’s willing to accompany me. And we can use her help._

“We might need someone like you, and I think you’ll be more than capable of accompanying us.” Byleth said, contemplating. “But you’ll have to keep the club activities a secret, alright?”

“Obviously. I kind of picked that up from the skullduggery you two were doing to get here. There’s something secret on campus and we can’t tell anyone. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Leonie said. “Besides, I prefer it this way. Secret temple excavations are the best anyway.”

“It’s going to be dangerous. Potentially life threatening.” Byleth said. “And that’s all the warning I can give you. Are you in or out?”

“Well saying something like _that_ only gets me even more interested.” Leonie made a fist and punched her opposite palm in anticipation. “Jeralt didn’t get to where he was just by playing it safe.”

“In that case, you’re in, Leonie.”

“Can’t wait for us to get started!” Leonie said. “So, uh, what does this involve, exactly? What kind of ruins are we searching for?”

“We’ll meet back here in a week to explore the Monastery. That said, I’ll hold a meeting halfway through next week, so we can cover everything you’ll need to know then. It’s kind of late now.” Byleth said. “Sound good?”

“No! I hate waiting.”

“Too bad. But I have some good news, Leonie. I spoke with Jeralt. He understands that you had no choice but to be late, given your summer job, and he’s giving you an A for the first assignment.” Byleth said. “Good night, you two. And don’t go to sleep too late.”

_-Garreg Mach Academy, Gym-_

“All right. Fencing practice!” Catherine and Byleth were in the gym, both donning equally protective gear as they held their weapons at the ready. Catherine, for her part, was using a hefty longsword that Byleth would have thought a bit too long for her height. Byleth held his own blade at the ready. Catherine continued. “We’re using real weapons, if that’s all right with you.”

“I’ve fenced with real blades before.” Byleth said. “We’re just lightly sparring, right? No blows to maim or kill and avoid injury when possible.”

“Sure, seems reasonable.” Catherine agreed and then suddenly lunged for him with a quick stab.

Byleth took a step back and assuming the most basic guard he knew of, twisting his wrists to deflect the lunge, before shifting back to a transition guard and attacking with a sweeping slash. Catherine withdrew her blade quickly and clashed against him, clashing with the flat of her blade against his edge.

 _Her reach is longer than mine, because of that sword, not to mention that she’s faster than me and has better reflexes._ Byleth withdrew back into a guard position and cautiously held it, watching his opponent for weaknesses. Catherine let her blade drop low, favoring a much looser guard than Byleth was using. It invited opening for high slashes, but Byleth wasn’t fooled. _The difference is skill between us means that those openings don’t exist. She’s baiting me, I think._

“Ha!” Catherine lunged again and attacked with a fancy flourish, swinging the blade around, forcing Byleth to respond with attacks of his own, focusing on defense rather than offense. Catherine rained blow after blow upon him, cycling through various attacks as Byleth did his best to try to defend against them, taking hits even as he did so.

Catherine was _very_ good at sword fighting, and despite what she declared initially, even Byleth could tell that she wasn’t fencing – she was using sword techniques completely unorthodox to conventional fencing and seemed to enjoy doing it greatly. Byleth, on the other hand, stuck to the most basic of defenses and threw out attacks when he could, but kept them fairly simple.

After nearly twenty minutes of clashing, Catherine finally stepped back and indicated Byleth did the same. They sheathed their blades and walked to the side. Catherine tossed off her helmet, sweat pouring off her face, and guzzled down a bottle of water she had waiting. Byleth took off his helmet as well, noting the sweat on his face as well, and took his own water.

“Not bad.” Catherine said. “But not good either. You’re too reliant on the basics.”

“Unlike yourself, naturally.” Byleth said. “Your range of techniques were very impressive.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Catherine said, chuckling. “When I was a wee lass, I was trained by my grandfather, who’s actually Japanese, though I know I don’t look it. He taught me kenjutsu first, and then when I was older I trained within a few Western schools of swordfighting, so my style is this weird fusion of the two. Apparently drives my opponents mad. I don’t pretend that I can actually fight with a katana or a no-dachi at any competent level, but its definitely been a large influence on my sword style.”

“You were certainly using me as a training dummy out there.”

“So I was! Sorry about that, but I haven’t had a chance to cut loose for a while.” Catherine said. “Tell you what – I’ll show you some of my moves in exchange so that you’ll be able to turn the tables on me at some point.”

“That would be greatly appreciated.”

“Alright. Let me show you one of my favorite techniques.” Catherine unsheathed her blade and held it up vertically, taking it up and over her head, setting her stance and drawback carefully. “No Italian would ever teach you a vertical strike, and the German styles rarely use it, but this is principally based a Japanese one. Watch my movements carefully.”

“Kabutowari!” Catherine slashed down with a single powerful blow, seemingly putting all the strength into the attack. The blade went down, but Catherine pulled it back – the attack was just demonstrative, but Byleth could tell the strength that went into that.

“Kabutowari?”

“In English, it roughly translates to ‘Helm-Cleaver’ and it’s mainly based off the German style ‘high guard’, which is why Shamir thought I should use ‘helmbeil’ as the name. Doesn’t have quite the same ring to me.” Catherine said. “It’s not really a useful attack. The stance doesn’t come up naturally during a fight for me, so it costs about a second to set up properly. That said, if you _do_ somehow have the time to set it up, it’s a very strong attack.”

“I see. Let me try.” Byleth said, setting up the stance himself. Catherine walked next to him, inspected his stance and gave him a few minor corrections, then Byleth swung. Catherine nodded.

“Good job! Keep this up, and I might even take you on as my disciple.”

_-Literature Class-_

“Good afternoon, class. I hope you’ve all read the assigned reading. This is for two reasons.” Byleth said as he wrote _Murder on the Orient Express_ on the board, then underlined it. “The first is that I _assigned_ it to you and I hope that you’re taking my class seriously, and the second is that this also happens to be one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time, and I’m about to spoil it if you hadn’t read it. Show of hands, who read it?”

The entirety of Byleth’s advanced reading class put their hands up.

“Second question.” Byleth said. “Who figured out the solution ahead of time? No – put your hands down everyone who put them up, I’m not buying it for a second. Except possibly for Lysithea. The Murder on the Orient Express is held in high regard as one of the greatest mystery novels of all time because of how obvious the culprit is in hindsight, but how the reader can’t figure it out in advance. This is an advanced use of the writing technique called _foreshadowing_ , something Agatha Christie was a master of. But, since this isn’t a class on how to write, it’s merely a class on literature, I’m not about to go into that now. Instead, let’s focus on deconstructing the novel.

The basic plot is as follows: The Orient Express, a train traveling cross-continent, is stuck in a snowbank and a man on the first-class car gets murdered horrifically. Hercules Poirot, the great detective, is onboard the train and must figure out which of the twelve other passengers in first-class committed the murder. The solution ultimately reveals that the whole scenario was a charade – all twelve passengers were conspiring together to murder the victim, who was responsible for the death of a child that they all knew. Upon learning this, Poirot fabricates a plausible story to pin the crime on some fictitious murderer, letting them off the hook. Now, who here has any thoughts on it?”

“Professor, I was thinking about something which didn’t really have to do with the mystery aspect but had to do with the murder aspect. Is that all right?”

“Caspar Bergliez, correct?” Byleth took note of the student. Caspar was almost a head shorter than most of the class and seemed to have a small chip on the shoulder about it. He didn’t speak out that often in class, so Byleth was more than willing to let him talk. “A good writer has the ability to weave many complex issues together. Certainly, the mystery is a large component of the story, but there are other avenues to examine as well. What would you like to discuss?”

“I couldn’t really get the part at the end where Poirot just let those criminals go.” Caspar said, frowning. “Was that really the right solution? It didn’t sit well with me?”

 _Caspar Bergliez. According to the files, he’s a military brat like Hilda is, but unlike her, he actually trained. He’s in the ROTC program, and had to get special dispensation to attend Garreg Mach because of it, as this is not usually associated with military programs._ Byleth considered. _It makes sense that he has a very black-and-white outlook on good and evil because of it. True, the twelve committed murder in cold blood. But … I have a feeling that there are those in the class who would disagree with Caspar’s approach._

“Open to discussion, if anyone would like to dispute it.” Byleth announced.

“Can I interject?” A young man sitting near the back with ash-colored hair and a blue hoodie raised his hand. “I think Poirot made the correct decision.”

 _Ashe Ulbert, adopted son of the rich banker Lonato Gaspard. And, like Dimitri told me, quite the prolific reader. He’s studying to become a law student. Unless I miss my guess, with that attitude, defense lawyer, no doubt._ Byleth noted and then made an early judgement on Ashe’s personality. _Idealistic, if not a tad naïve; if I make my guess. This could be very good._

“All right, Ashe.” Byleth said. “I’d like to hear from you. But first, Caspar, you need to justify your opinion. Make your argument a little stronger. Why exactly was Poirot wrong to create a false story to pin the crime on an imagined murderer? After all, it wasn’t like Cassetti was an innocent himself.”

“That’s the thing, Professor. Murder, especially in cold blood, is murder, and thus it’s wrong to let a murderer get away with things. It doesn’t really matter what the circumstances leading up to the situation are.” Caspar said. “We’ve got laws for a reason, and it’s the job of the police and the military to enforce out those laws. If people constantly take the law into their own hands, all that will be left is anarchy.”

 _Not a poor argument. Still, plenty of room for rebuttal._ “Ashe, the floor is yours.”

“Well, sure, that’s one way to think of it.” Ashe said. “But is ‘law’ and ‘justice’ synonymous? As it stands, in the case of the Orient Express, the ‘victim’ was no ‘victim’ at all – he definitely would have gotten the death penalty if his crime had been made clear. Yet, because of the way things happened, he was untouchable by the law. Would you consider that to be ‘justice’, for such a man to get away with the crime?”

“No!” Caspar said, temper flaring. “But how does that excuse murder?”

“I never said it did.” Ashe said. “But we aren’t discussing whether or not the murder was justified, are we? We’re discussing Poirot’s reaction to it. At that moment, he had a choice to make – he could continue the cycle of hatred and indict the twelve for a very sympathetic murder, or he could give out a very plausible theory as to how the murder happened. It’s true that they did a very wrong thing in murdering Cassetti, but, again, consider what the ‘justice’ of the situation is. In truth, Cassetti should have paid for his crimes, so why should penalties be inflicted upon the twelve?”

“Wait, Ashe.” Byleth said. “So, to clarify, you think that the act of killing Cassetti was wrong, yet Poirot’s actions were correct?”

“Um… yes, Professor.” Ashe looked a bit sheepish. “I mean, it sounds a bit contradictory, but reality can be messy, sometimes. Like I said, ‘law’ and ‘justice’ aren’t always the same. It might have been the law for the twelve to be brought in for murder – but I don’t think that would have been ‘just’.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed about.” Byleth said. _Perhaps not as naïve as I thought._ “That’s a fairly nuanced view of the situation. Caspar? Do you have any kind of response?”

“Huh. I need to think about this now.” Caspar said. “Ashe made some good points, but at the same time, if people knew that you could break laws without getting punished for it, doesn’t that make the laws pointless? I get that this was exceptional circumstances, but even still…”

_Caspar seems very much like the type of person to believe platonically in an ideal, while Ashe seems to have the capacity to view things from all angles. Both of which are actually quite useful to them in their chosen professions. Still, I’d be a poor teacher if I didn’t manage to shake them from their comfort zones._

“Does anyone believe that the act of killing Cassetti was _correct?_ ” Byleth asked, then blinked as a hand shot up immediately. “Lysithea? Go ahead.”

“He killed a child.” Lysithea, normally fairly level-headed, almost spat the words out. “Professor, I don’t usually think vigilantism is correct, but there are times when there’s a crime so heinous that its completely justified.”

 _Hmm. Interesting._ Byleth watched her. _Does she have some kind of emotional baggage here? Well, I didn’t see anything in her file about it, but I’ll keep an eye out all the same. Still, this kind of emotional response is exactly what I’m looking for right now._ _Let’s see if I can’t continue this so the class can become a real round-robin of arguments._

“Professor?”

“Edelgard, yes?” Byleth said, calling on her. “Do you have something to add to this situation?”

“Is our discussing things really the right way to go about this?” Edelgard asked. “Surely there must have been a right way and a wrong way to go about doing things. One course of action that’s correct and another that’s incorrect. And I doubt a group of college students are the right people to decide morality.”

“Perhaps. But I wouldn’t know who the right people are. I teach literature, after all, not ethics.” Byleth said, frowning. “I think, perhaps, you aren’t understanding the point of the exercise. Listen up, then.”

Byleth rapped sharply on the board with his knuckles to get the class’s attention.

“This is literature – and literature is nothing if not _symbolic_. The point of all of literature is to convey a message to the reader that’s a bit more sublime and inspired than just a dry wall of text.” Byleth said. “Every literary epic has these messages – whether it’s something as fundamental as a dialogue on the complex nature of a man or it’s something as simple as a tale of good versus evil. What I’m doing is attempting to teach you is how these messages are expressed, and that’s understanding the mindset that is coming into play here – don’t just understand the _what_ , understand the _why_ behind every action. I could just come out and _tell_ you what Hercules Poirot was thinking when he made the decision to cover for the guilty party – but what would that accomplish?”

“What about fluff that people just read because they want to read something good?” Claude interjected.

“That’s the literary equivalent of fast food. It’s not bad to have it for a meal or two a week, and it might taste pretty good, but I wouldn’t recommend making a diet out of it.” Byleth said. “ _Anyway_. The goal here is to help you understand Poirot’s mindset, so that you can understand similar mindsets in other stories you read, and having you organically understand the mindset is better than me telling you what it is. So … out of the three available mindsets, who would you say Poirot is closet too?”

“Not mine.” Lysithea shook her head. “I think Poirot is more similar to Ashe – he would have been against the murder from the start but was willing to cover up for it afterwards.”

“And _that’s_ the point I was trying to get at.” Byleth said. “Knowing this, we can look back into the novel and try to analyze Poirot’s earlier actions. Assume that once he realized the possibility of the exact scenario of the crime, he would have been willing to overlook it. Does that follow within his actions?”

“No.” Caspar called out, frowning. “If he actually cared about that, then why was he working so hard to figure out who committed the murder and why did he reveal he knew how the murder was done if he was going to lie anyway?”

 _Because Ashe is actually wrong, of course. Hercules Poirot, like many of the ‘great detectives’ of the era had a skewed sense of moral priorities, and furthermore considered themselves to be above the common judgement. Something both Caspar and Ashe would hate. Poirot cares to solve the case and cannot resist a good mystery. Only after he proves his superiority does he deign to pass judgement upon the conspirators and judge them to be innocent in his own eyes._ Byleth thought. _At least, that’s the most cynical approach one can have. There are others, of course, but it’ll be interesting to see what comes from that._

“ _Exactly,_ Caspar. Today’s assignment:” Byleth said. “Hercules Poirot seemingly contradicts himself – he solves the mystery and fingers the culprits; only to subsequently cover for them. Why would he do this? What is his motivation? You have two weeks to work on this, I want at least three pages with two quotes from the novel supporting your thesis. And, remember, the faster you get them to me, the faster I grade them.”

As he spoke, the bell rung. Byleth nodded and dismissed the class, sitting down at his desk as the class slowly left. No one stayed to ask him questions, but the student did leave in groups, talking to each other. Byleth caught sight of Ashe and Caspar engaged in a very animated conversation as they left.

“Well, that was interesting.” Byleth said, shuffling papers on his desk. He’d allowed the class to continue the discussion for a while before actually going on to lecture himself, selecting a few choice passages that he thought would help the students complete the assignment.

True, his teaching method was slightly unorthodox compared to the literature teachers he had growing up. But he found himself drawn to literature in spite of them, not because of them. There was something about stories, especially the more compelling ones, that drew him in.

 _What was that movie Claude told me to watch? Inception? Perhaps I should watch it._ Byleth hesitated when it came to watching either movies or shows – that time could also be spent reading, after all. _I suppose I’ll give it a try_.

There was a staccato knock on his door.

“Come in.” Byleth announced. Was it one of his students?

“Thank you very much.” A brown-haired woman walked into the door, dressed a little too flashy (in Byleth’s personal opinion). “You’re Byleth Eisner, right? I’m Manuela Casagranda. I teach Theatre and Arts, here. We’ve met before, but I’m sure you’re swamped with names and faces right now.”

“Something like that.” Byleth said. “Can I help you?”

“Oh … yes. I wanted to discuss doing a joint project between our departments. A play, as it were. Apparently there’s an old tradition to do one in the school, but that hasn’t been around for ages.” Manuela said. “I _do_ run the drama club, here, but unfortunately, we aren’t large enough by ourselves to do a play.”

“Let me guess.” Byleth said. “You’d like me to help out with that?”

“Not recruitment, exactly. But I think I’d have a better chance if the students here were familiar with the work that we were doing the play of, don’t you?”

“Ah.” Byleth nodded, understanding. “So, you pick a play, I teach it to the class, and then you recruit for the play. And you can’t do this with just Theatre and Art students because…?”

“Because there aren’t enough of them.” Manuela said. “I want to make a _grand_ play. A total cast of a dozen doesn’t compare to one with forty-plus characters, wouldn’t you say?”

“…I do see your point.” Byleth said. “But I’ll warn you right now – if the play is _Hamlet_ , there’s no chance. Half the school has already been taught it in high school already and learned to hate it there, so despite the fact that-”

“I’ll stop your rant right there – it’s not _Hamlet_.” Manuela chewed her bottom lip. “I haven’t decided on which one exactly though. I’m a partial to the epic _Rise of the Crimson Tactician.”_

“Absolutely not, we’re not doing that kind of crude shilling here. Pick something else.”

“In that case, do we have time to discuss it?”

“Of course, I’m not busy right now.” Byleth’s phone went off. Byleth sighed, checked the caller ID, and winced. _If_ she’s _calling – then it’s probably bad news. Either for me or my wallet._ “Sorry. Change of plans. I _am_ busy right now. Sorry, Manuela, but I want to take this. We’ll have to pick this up another time.”

“Stop by the nurse’s office anytime.”

“The nurse’s office?”

“That’s where I’ll be.” Manuela left the room, leaving Byleth to stab his phone and accept the call.

 _I’ll just have to get the full story out of her later_. “Anna? Tell me you have good news for me.”

“ _Not exactly. So … that sword you wanted? Well there was this unfortunate accident involving it and let’s just say that it’s not really recognizable as a sword right now.”_ Anna said. _“It’s going to be delayed a bit. But, on the positive side, I can have it reforged and you can name it Anduril like a total fantasy nerd.”_

“I really wanted that sword, Anna.” Byleth said.

“ _I know, I know. I’m sorry about it too. Look, I’ll cover the replacement at no cost to you. Which I would have to do anyway, seeing as I’m responsible until it gets delivered to you. Um. I’ll… Well… I’ll make it up to you.”_

“Are you offering me something for _free_?” Byleth said, almost shocked.

_“Hey! Don’t be like that. I pride myself on my service and I take personal responsibility when things get messed up. So, in other words, this mistake is on me, and I’ll help you – you’ve got my word as the Secret Seller!”_

“…Secret Seller?”

 _“Oh, you didn’t know about that nickname? Huh. Your dad used to use me to procure the weirdest things for him and have them delivered to the weirdest places. I did it as a special favor for him and asked him to keep quiet about it, so he called me the Secret Seller.”_ Anna said. _“But I suppose I can do the same for you, as a way to make up for the delayed sword. That seems to be a fair exchange to me. Any item, no matter how weird, I’ll have it for you.”_

“Sounds like a good deal.”

_I am thou_

_Thou art I_

_Thou hast established a new bond_

_It brings thee closer to uncovering that which has been hidden_

_With the birth of the **Priestess** Arcana, thou has obtained new powers_

_Anna’s the Priestess? Weird. Very weird. Doesn’t that represent … something like a threshold guardian to the unknown and hidden knowledge. Does she … maybe she knows something more. At any rate, this can’t hurt. I should try cultivating this relationship. And, speaking of tarot cards…_

“How about a book about tarot cards?” Byleth asked. “I want some kind of guide to what each one represents. Not necessarily a book about how to _read_ them – I’ve no interest in that. I want a book which has an in-depth analysis of what each one has meant over the centuries.”

_“Oof. Tough order. And isn’t literature supposed to be your thing?”_

“You might have access to sources I don’t have.”

“ _Hmm. That_ is _true. I’ll see what I can do for you, Byleth. No promises, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the package arrive some time this week. And a modest charge was made to your bank account._ ”

“I thought you said you’d be doing this for free!”

_“Yeah. The Secret Seller part. I usually charge for that. I’m not giving you merchandise for free. What do you think I am, crazy?”_

“No, clearly the fault was mine for making such an outlandish assumption.”

 _“Clearly._ ”

“Would I be able to partake of this service again? If, say, I would want to order something a bit off the beaten path?” Byleth continued. “Something outside the usual spectrum of odds and ends?”

“ _Well, now. I’d hate to turn away a paying customer, so I don’t see why not.”_ Anna’s voice was cheerful. _“But I’ll have to warn you that the Secret Seller’s rates are a little higher than you might be used too, without having favors involved. Still, I do have access to stuff you can’t get elsewhere so … ask and ye might receive. But I’ve got to track down your book so … ta ta for now.”_

- _Garreg Mach Academy, Byleth’s Unnamed Club_ -

“…and that’s about the long and short of it.” Byleth finished.

“You expect me to believe that?” Leonie asked incredulously. “I mean, a secret trapdoor, fine. Even if its something out of _Nancy Drew_.”

“Nancy Drew? Pshaw, Hardy Boys all the way.” Claude interjected, earning twin gazes of scorn.

“ _Ahem_. So you’re telling me that there’s this weird dreamworld of the school called ‘The Monastery’ and that you and Claude are exploring an ancient ruin within in to try and figure out why its there alongside a mysterious small girl?” Leonie said. “I mean, sounds great if it was true, but I’m not sure I believe it.”

“Your willingness to believe it is immaterial to its existence.” Byleth paused. “Hopefully. Unless it’s one of those things that require belief in it to work. But it worked for Claude and myself just fine with no forward knowledge so try to avoid saying ‘I don’t believe in fairies’ and you should be able to enter.”

“And you might want to bring a weapon with you.” Claude said.

“What, like my trusty shovel?” Leonie said. “I don’t know what these ‘shadow’ things are, but I’m pretty sure my shovel can handle them.”

“If you feel comfortable with a shovel, that’s fine. But I have a sword and Claude uses a bow.” Byleth said. “You might want something a little more … high-caliber.”

“I get what you’re saying…”


	6. A Crafty Fox

_-Monastery-_

“Okay. I’ll be honest. I wasn’t expecting that.” Claude said, staring at the weapon that Leonie had proudly unwrapped. “That is … well, that’s definitely high-caliber. _Thanks_ , Teach. You just had to give her that advice, didn’t you?”

“It seems like it’ll be useful.” Byleth frowned. “But is that really legal?”

“Is your _sword_ really legal?” Leonie countered.

“As long as I keep it publicly sheathed, yes.” Byleth said. “I don’t even need a license for it.”

The group had once again gathered in the school’s bunker and had made there way to the crypt. Leonie, somewhat surprisingly, had been rather unshaken by the shift, though Byleth supposed it wouldn’t really kick in until they actually got to the Monastery proper. The bunker-to-crypt shift wasn’t too radical – compared to the rest of the Monastery, that is.

Leonie had come prepared. She wasn’t wearing a school uniform, instead opting to dress more like an archeologist on a dig. She had a shovel by her side, similar to Byleth’s sword if not as deadly, but her real weapon she’d brought wrapped in black cloth and only took it out once in the Monastery.

It was a modern steel-limbed crossbow, built with a hard-black shell surrounding it, complete with a scope for aiming and an enlarged grip with a stock to brace against the shoulder. A beautiful blend of modern technology with medieval weaponry, it was both elegant and deadly.

“Yeah, it’s legal. I mean, mostly. _This_ is my hunting rifle.” Leonie said proudly. “My folks hunt, and they taught me how to do it too. Gunpowder is loud and obnoxious, not to mention dangerous, so my father trained me to use a crossbow.”

“Because crossbows _aren’t_ dangerous?” Claude deadpanned.

“Well, not to me.” Leonie nodded to Claude’s recurve. “Cute toy you got there. Maybe we can have a competition sometime.”

“Sure, we can have that later. First to _fire twice_ wins.” Claude frowned. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that count as a firearm?”

“Yes, but I have a license.” Leonie said. “Just… well, it’s against school policy for the students to have guns, but given that we’re not _on_ school campus right now, I think it should be fine.”

Byleth frowned at that.

“She does have a point, Teach. I mean, what court is going to convict her using a crossbow in the collective unconscious of humanity?” Claude said. “It’s like arresting someone for dreaming they have gun.”

“Exactly!” Leonie agreed.

“But my bow is still better.”

“Agree to disagree, Claude.”

“Please stop.” Byleth said. “There’s no reason for either one of you to be insecure about your weapon of choice. Still … Leonie, I’m not really able to overlook this. You’re not brining the crossbow back to the college. Keep it stashed here or very bad things will happen. Mostly to me if you get caught, but also to you if you get caught.”

“…I suppose I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Leonie sighed. “Fine, but if it’s broken, I’m holding you responsible.”

“If it’s broken, I’ll cover it.” Claude quickly interjected. “It’s not worth coming to blows over, and I can cover the cost, don’t worry. My pockets are pretty deep.”

“Claude, you don’t have to-”

“It’s fine, Teach.” Claude shook his hand. “Seriously. It’s pocket change to me. I am _filthy_ rich. Or, well, my grandfather is, and his allowance is pretty generous, so … same thing as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well, I suppose that would be that.” Byleth let the frown fade. The situation had been resolved, but not quite as he would have liked it. But worrying wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and if Claude was willing to solve the problem, that was fine by him. “Let’s get to exploring, shall we?”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

The group slowly walked up the stairs to the entrance of the crypt, stepping outside into the Monastery. Leonie’s mouth slowly dropped as she looked around, taking note of the crumbling ruins around them, staring at them in awe.

“It’s true. We’re no longer in the school.”

“Not exactly. Technically, you’re still in the school. Just within the shadow world.” Sothis said. The girl was waiting for them at the top of the stairs. Sothis looked Leonie up and down. “I see you have a new companion with you, Byleth.”

“Yup.” Leonie said. “It’s nice to meet’cha.”

“Good. I’m sure you’ve realized by now how important it is to have companions.” Sothis said. “You _have_ , right?”

“Yes, actually.” Byleth said. “But I don’t have one with-”

“-Don’t worry about it. Sometimes it just takes a while to forge one.” Sothis said. She turned to Leonie. “I’m Sothis. Who are you?”

“I’m Leonie Pinelli. Would-be world’s greatest archaeologist.” Leonie said. “I’m Jeralt Eisner’s apprentice and Byleth’s rival. And I’m going to get to the bottom of this before him.”

“It’s not a competition, Leonie.”

“Maybe not for you.” Leonie said. “But that just means that I have a leg up. Now, where are we heading?”

“Second floor, second office on the left.” Byleth said. “And watch out for shadowy blobs – you can’t fight them yet.”

“I can shoot them with my crossbow.” Leonie said. “My big, hurty, crossbow.”

“Yeah, but it takes a Persona to kill them.” Claude said. “You know – the manifestation of the soul we told you about?”

“Sweet. When do I get one of _those_?”

“All in good time.” Sothis said. “Now, come on, you three. We should be on our way.”

“Can we do some light exercise first?” Claude asked, cracking his fingers. “It’d be a good idea to see what kind of a shot Leonie is. And, also, I want to try out my Persona before we do anything strenuous.”

“Seems like a good idea.” Byleth said, raising an eyebrow. “But this is more for your sake than Leonie’s, isn’t it?”

“I’ll have you know that I’m an _excellent_ shot with this thing.” Leonie said, loading a bolt into the crossbow. “Probably better than you are with your bow.”

“Woden!” Claude called, summoning his persona. Woden appeared behind him, twin ravens perched on the man’s shoulders as it stood ready to attention. Claude grinned. “What’s that? I can’t hear you over _how awesome I am_.”

“Bah.” Leonie snorted.

“They aren’t that dissimilar, are they?” Sothis asked Byleth. “Or perhaps they just seem a little petty to me.”

“I think this is the pattern of behavior amongst good friends. But I never really understood such behaviors myself.” Byleth said. He turned to Leonie. “You two _are_ friends, right?”

“Eh. He’s a lot better than most of the other people around here, so…” Leonie shrugged.

“Shadows.” Sothis suddenly warned the group.

“Let me handle this one, Teach.” Claude said. “I need the practice.”

“Fine. But I’ll be standing by to back you up. Jack Frost!” Byleth summoned the Persona with a wave of his hand.

_-Palace of Sloth (entrance)-_

The group made in across the courtyard and to the door without major incident, opening it and going through. They emerged at the entrance to the same ruins they saw the previous visit, rather than the maze, something Byleth was grateful they didn’t have to do again.

“Well, here we are.” Claude said. “I’m going to try the door. Cover me, Byleth?”

“Nice try. You have a Persona and a ranged weapon. You’ll be covering us.” Byleth said. “Leonie, come with me and we’ll inspect these doors together. Sothis, can you keep an eye on Claude?”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” Claude asked. “I’ll be with Teach and the girls can stick together?”

“No.” Sothis said firmly. “I’ve decided that your distrust of me is mutual from my end.”

“Well, I tried.”

Byleth walked ahead, until he was right before the exterior of the Palace. The walls looked structurally unsound and like they could crumbling down at any moment, but even still, there was a kind of rigid structure to them – almost as if the fact that they hadn’t fallen yet meant that they couldn’t.

Leonie knelt down and started poking at the stones, inspecting the site carefully with a few small tools she had pulled out of her pack. Byleth watched her, somewhat familiar with her technique, but he couldn’t really tell for sure what she was doing.

“I’m not sure what I’m looking at.” Leonie said, frowning. “It’s old – like really old. Pre-medieval, I think. But it’d be best if we consulted an expert. I’ll take a picture with my phone and ask Jeralt about it.”

“We’d like to conceal this from him if possible.” Byleth said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be discreet. Besides, I bug him about stuff all the time. He’d have no reason to suspect this in particular.” Leonie withdrew her phone from her pocket and snapped a few pictures. “There we go.”

“Does this mean that we won’t be able to get in until next time?” Byleth asked.

“Hmmm. I’m not sure.” Leonie stepped before the twin massive doors of the building and placed a hand on each one. She then pushed, shoving forward with all her might, and the doors slowly started creaking open. “Heh. Door was unlocked. Or the lock just rusted away. Either way, we’re in.”

 _Oh._ Byleth shook his head. _Well, that’s what I get for making assumptions. Still, who makes a temple like that and leaves the door open?_

“Cool, you got it open!” Claude exclaimed, jogging up to the group, with Sothis behind him. “Nice going! How’d you manage it, Leonie? Secret door triggered by an out-of-place rock that you had to press in the right combination?”

“It was unlocked,” Leonie dryly said.

“…Ah. That’s less cool than I imagined.” Claude turned to Sothis. “So … is that common or uncommon?”

“A Palace can be locked or unlocked depending on the nature of the Palace and the nature of the people trying to enter.” Sothis said, tilting her head. “Essentially … it depends. It could be that this Palace was unlocked because its owner was too lazy to lock it just as it could be that it’s a trap waiting for us inside. Or, possibly, it was meant to let us enter – it wants either some of us or all of us inside that Palace.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present.” Leonie cracked her fingers. “Trap or not, there’s no way I can resist this. Are you guys ready for this?”

“Bahamut, come to my aid!” Sothis cried as her Persona materialized around her. “Protect your mistress!”

“Woden of Asgard, answer my call!” Claude grinned as his crest materialized on his face, surrounding an eye. His Persona appeared behind him as Claude’s appearance shifted, turning his school uniform into something worn by a Viking warrior. “Yeah! Let’s go.”

“I suppose I should join in. Hannibal of Barca.” Byleth flatly stated as his crest materialized as well. Similar to the other two, Hannibal appeared behind him, ready to join the battle. “If we’re all prepared, let’s start.”

“ _Hannibal?”_ Leonie stared. “Sweet salted city of Carthage.”

“He was my first Persona.” Byleth shrugged. “It feels appropriate.”

“You have _Hannibal_ as your Persona? Okay, I’m a little jealous of that.” Leonie said, looking at Byleth. “I suppose that makes sense, though. Would that make Jeralt’s Persona Hamilcar?”

“I hadn’t considered that. But I think that’s a discussion best save for another time.” Byleth said, appraising the open Palace in front of him. He preferred reading dry and dusty old tomes, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a good temple to explore. “Now, let’s-”

“Not so hasty, you four!”

“What?” Byleth spun around, alongside the others. He saw a cloaked figure standing near the entranceway that they had originally come from, apparently having concealed themselves nearby or having had followed them. _Another person?_ Byleth narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”

“My name? Well, that’s unimportant, really. I’m just here to stop you from making a mistake. You see, if you set foot into the Palace, it would wake up. And an activated Palace is very bad – as I’m sure the girl there can tell you.”

“Sothis…” Claude stared at her. “What haven’t you told us?”

“It’s not important!” Sothis caught herself. “Okay, it _is_ important, but it’s not important right now. There’s a time limit on Palaces – once they show up, they’ll collapse on themselves within a few weeks which is when whoever _has_ the Palace will be overcome by whatever emotion is made manifest within it.”

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Claude said. “And you were going to have us walk in there!?”

“It doesn’t matter! The Palace of Sloth has stabilized. Us entering wouldn’t wake it up and put the host in any danger.” Sothis said. “Like I said – not important right now. Especially not if you didn’t know it _could_ wake up – I told you, a large part of this world is tied around _your_ perception. If you believed the Palace would stay the same when you walked in, you’d be fine.”

“Yes, well, we feel otherwise.” The cloak figure walked towards them. “We, who slither in the dark, feel that you interlopers from the academy aren’t wanted here, and we’d like to get rid of you. So I’ve been told to give you a choice – leave and never come back again or suffer my wrath.”

“Are you … human?” Byleth asked, stepping forward. “You aren’t academy students, that’s for certain.”

“Oh, so perceptive! But if that’s all you can figure out, then I see no need to tell you anymore.”

“Do _you_ know who they are, Sothis?” Byleth asked.

“I feel like I should but … no, I don’t.” Sothis shook her head. “Sorry.”

“No, please, why stop now?” Claude said dryly. “Anything _else_ you want to spring on us?”

“…That woman. She’s a Persona user, but there’s something wrong about her.” Sothis frowned. “Whoever she is, I think Byleth is right. I don’t think she came from the academy like you three did. And she’s strong too – you’ll have to use all your power to defeat her.”

“So you’re choosing to fight then?”

“Wait, no, we can talk about this!” Byleth protested. “I don’t want to fight!”

“Good, because I wasn’t really interested in letting you go!” The cloaked figure threw back her hood to reveal a cackling pale face as she completely ignored Byleth’s protests. A crest materialized on the woman as she focused and a foxlike shape started appearing behind her. “Come forth and aid me – Kitsune!”

“Big deal. You have a Japanese fox spirit, I have a _Viking_ _legend_ on my side.” Claude gestured. “Garu!”

“Ah, ah, ah!” The woman shook her head and a twin-horned goatlike creature rose from a black pool in front of her, taking the wind-based attack and looking none the worse for it. “There’ll be no cutting in line. Wait your turn.”

“Okay, what gives?” Claude frowned. “I have Woden! I read up on the guy. He’s supposed to be the head of the whole Norse mythology thing, and Thor’s dad. He forged Mjlonir!”

“No, that was the svartalves.” Byleth corrected. “…Claude, did you just do a poorly-worded Google search and read the first related article, which no doubt had more to do with the poorly sourced comic interpretation of the character rather the mythological one?”

“…I admit to nothing.”

“Actually, even in the comics, the dwarves forged it, too.” Leonie chimed in. Claude shot her a look. Leonie shrugged. “What? I’m not allowed to read comics?”

“Whatever. My point is that Woden is supposed to be insanely strong.” Claude said. “And he got stopped by a _goat_.”

“First of all, that’s a Bicorn, not a goat.” Sothis sighed. “Second, Claude, that’s not actually a mythological god you have behind you– which you should know because _Woden isn’t real_. That’s just your heart made manifest into a form that permeates the human subconscious. Just because yours has assumed a certain shape doesn’t make it that much stronger. But if it helps your ego, Woden’s wind attacks don’t work that well against a Bicorn.”

“In that case, my pride is battered, but still intact.” Claude said. “Hey! Weird fox girl! Are you going to fight us or what?”

“I don’t want to fight you. I want to fight Byleth.”

“You seem to know who I am.” Byleth said, drawing his blade. “It seems only fair that I should know your name.”

“Fairness? Who cares about _that?_ ” The woman giggled, drawing a wicked knife. More pools of blackness appeared around her, drawing more and more of the goatlike creatures. “But I’ll tell you my name, only because it won’t do you any good. I’m Kronya, of Those Who Slither in The Dark.”

“Sothis? What can you tell me?”

“Those shadows are Bicorns – weak to electricity attacks.” Sothis said. “But I don’t know how she’s controlling them. I’ve heard some Persona users who are close to the shadow version of themselves can do that, but I don’t remember ever having seen it in person…”

“What’s the plan, Teach?” Claude said, drawing back an arrow. Kronya seemed content to wait for their group to make the first move – but that was only because time seemed to be on her side. Byleth didn’t know how many of the Bicorns Kronya could summon.

“I can try shooting her.” Leonie said, taking aim with her crossbow. “I just need a clean shot…”

 _If Kronya can summon a Persona, that means that she’s a human and getting hit with a crossbow bolt will stop a human,_ Byleth thought. _So even without a Persona, Leonie can be quite useful in this fight. That’s the good news._

“Let me stop your plan right now. Unfortunately for you, I know your groups Personas. Fire, Wind, and Bless.” Kronya pointed to each member respectively. “I don’t know Little Miss Crossbow’s Persona because she’s new, but given that, I’m betting she don’t have one. And I’m not crazy enough to let you shoot me with that crossbow.”

_Hmm. Maybe not such good news after all, then._

“My Bicorns can only be taken down with electricity spells.” Kronya bragged. “And you don’t have any of those at all, do you?”

“Here’s the plan. Leonie, I can get you one clear shot. Once that happens, take it.” Byleth said. “Claude, try to keep up as best as you can with your other techniques. Sothis, back us up with your spells.”

“My, what a bold plan!” Kronya called, mocking them. “It’s a pity it won’t work!”

“Your hubris will be your demise. Or perhaps you haven’t realized the true power of your opponents. Permit me to correct the error of your ways. Agathion!” Byleth said, summoning a jarred imp in front of him. “Zio!”

“WHAT!?” Kronya screeched.

- _Earlier, Velvet Room_ -

Byleth pressed down on the bunker’s table, expecting to find himself transported to the crypt, only to find himself in a different room entirely. He was sitting in a cathedral, of sorts, perhaps a place of worship or perhaps just a place for a public gathering. It seemed familiar to him.

“Welcome back, Byleth.” Igor said, the same long-nosed man that had greeted him. “How has your journey been?”

“Igor?” Byleth recalled the dream he had previously. _Or, was it a dream?_ “What am I doing here?”

“Pardon me. I took the liberty of summoning you to the Velvet Room because there were things that you must be made aware of.” Igor said. “Should you wish to return here at any point, just place your hand on the same table and wish to be taken here. Also, note that, like a dream, time flows a bit differently here. You’ll barely be missed when you rejoin your group.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess.” Byleth said. “…But why am I here?”

“Because its time for you to learn the true power of the Wild Card.” The smaller of the two attendants stepped forward first. Byleth recognized her as Flayn. She held aloft a staff and pointed it at him. “Please stand still. This won’t hurt and will just take a moment…”

“What is that?”

“Thank you. You’ve already learned that, as the Wild Card, you can store multiple Persona.” Flayn withdrew her staff and checked it, eyes going wide. “Wow! You have five Personas already. Such progress is remarkable.”

“But you can hold six.” The older attendant, the dour one, stepped forward. “You must be better, Wild Card. It’s best to always be at your strongest.”

“Still, five is plenty.” Flayn held up her staff. “This is the Persona Compendium. With it, I can record the Personas that you’ve stored within yourself and, if necessary, summon them back and give them to you if you need them.”

“Oh. So, if I want different Personas than the one I have, I can give them to you and exchange them.”

“Actually, you can just release them back into the Sea of Souls. I don’t take the Personas you have – I just copy them. So, right now, I have a copy of Hannibal, Jack Frost, Angel, Slime, and Pixie.” Flayn said. “If you want a copy of them, just ask me and I can generate one formed from the Sea of Souls. There are also a few other things I can do – I can train some of your Personas, for instance.”

“Training?” Byleth was intrigued by the prospect. “What exactly do you mean by-”

“Flayn, let’s not overwhelm him on his first visit.”

“Right. Sorry, Seteh.” Flayn look downcast.

“It’s fine, Flayn.” Seteh coughed. “Now, Wild Card, It’s time to introduce you to the most powerful tool in any Wild Card’s arsenal – Persona Fusion. Flayn can let you store and recall any Persona in your arsenal, which is very useful, but the Wild Card’s true power can only be maximized by creating new Personas.”

“I can _create_ new Personas?”

“No. _I_ can create new Personas. In order to do, you must sacrifice two of the Personas you already have. Give them to me and I’ll perform the fusion and give you a single Persona back.” Seteh said. “The resulting fusion, however, inherits some of the skills of the ones sacrificed – and it is even stronger should it belong to an Arcana that you have a bond with.

“And that’s where Flayn’s ability comes into play.” Byleth said, looking between the two green-haired attendants. “So I use Flayn’s compendium to call forth Personas I already own and I use your fusion ability to create new ones.”

“Yes but be warned – my power isn’t inexhaustible.” Flayn said. “I can only call forth so many Personas each day for fusing, and that number goes down with the strength of each Persona you call forth.”

“Also, be warned – a function of my ability to fuse Personas is a direct function of your own strength and bonds.” Seteh said. “I may be unable to fuse Personas on occasion simply because you would be incompatible with the result.”

“That _would_ be too good to be true, wouldn’t it?” Byleth said. “So … let’s get fusing.”

“Indeed. I look forward to a fruitful partnership, Byleth.” Seteh said.

“As do I!” Flayn said, enthusiastically.

- _Present Time_ -

“What is that? You didn’t have that Persona the last time we were here!” Claude demanded.

“As a Wild Card, I can fuse the Personas I capture together, to create even stronger Personas – which is how I wound up with Agathion.” Byleth said. “As for not telling you … well, sometimes you have to keep the ace up your sleeve hidden from your allies, especially if you want to trick your enemies.”

“That’s fair given the circumstances.”

“Zio! Zio! Zio!” Byleth cried, as the little imp in the jar unleash torrents of lightning bolts, blasting the bicorns out of the way, sending them twitching to the ground.

“Woden, blow them away with physical attacks! Use Snap!” Claude called. In response, his Persona hurled force spears, sending them into the downed bicorns, disintegrating the creatures into dust. Claude grinned. “Nice one, Teach! That’ll teach you for trying to pick a fight with us!”

“You wretched fools! Do you think that the only creatures I have at my disposal are bicorns?” Kronya snarled. “Come forth, my Incubi!”

More and more pools started forming around Kronya, but Sothis simply laughed at the forming shadows. Kronya’s face fell as she realized what was about to happen too late.

“Mahama.” Sothis lazily flicked her hand and the demons coming forth from the black pools were destroyed almost as soon as they appeared. “It seems that you have limits to which Shadows you can send after us, then. I don’t know how you control Shadows – but surely you must know that such weak creatures would never be able to hurt us.”

“Leonie, now.”

“I’ve got it.” Leonie said, lining up her shot. “After all, this was all to give me a clear shot, right? It’d be a shame if I missed this.”

There was a soft noise as Leonie fired her crossbow, sending the quarrel streaking straight towards the woman who had attacked the group. As the arrow reached Kronya, however, it was batted aside by a tail, and a three-tailed fox materialized in front of the woman.

Leonie swore.

“Ahahaha! Did you think you had me?” Kronya laughed. “Well, kudos to you for being able to handle a few weak shadows, but I’ll think you’ll find that I myself am something completely different. I’m no poser like you four, and I’m not like some weak girl who can’t even use a Persona.”

“You think you’re better than me just because you have a Persona?” Leonie said, reloading her crossbow with grim determination. “Oh, you’ll pay for that.”

“Leonie, no!” Byleth called.

“Leonie, yes!” The auburn-haired archeologist apprentice charged for Kronya, firing her crossbow as she did so. Like before, the fox intercepted it, but Leonie counted on that. She slid under the distracted fox and came up, having discarded her crossbow to wield her shovel with two hands, bringing it down with a vicious chop.

There was a clang as Kronya neatly blocked the shovel with her own weapon.

“You know what I really hate? People who really don’t understand how out of their league they are. You should be here and you shouldn’t be fighting me.” Kronya yawned as she single-handedly held out her dagger against Leonie’s straining shovel blade. “Seriously, go away.”

Leonie was tossed backwards with a simple flick of Kronya’s wrist. Kronya sighed as she started walking to Leonie, who rolled to her feet.

“Like I said. I’m no poser. Even without a Persona, I’m a lot stronger than you. You’ve lost. And now you get to pay the price.” Kronya idly held forth her hand. “Kill her, Kitsune. Agilao.”

“Mokoi, Bash!”

A black puppet-like Persona appeared in front of Kitsune and slammed forward, sending the fox-like Persona backwards before it could use its spell. Kronya snarled only for Byleth to attack her with his blade, clashing sword against knife before drawing back and repeating with a hail of strikes.

“Seriously? We have mythical creatures to fight at our disposal and you’re attacking me with a sword?” Kronya said, hastily deflecting the swarm of attacks that Byleth was attacking her with. “Don’t you think that there’s something wrong with this picture? Kitsune, take him down! Agilao!”

“Defend me, Hannibal of Barca!” Byleth called, summoning forth his Persona and gestured, sending it forward as Kronya’s Persona attacked him with a ball of fire. Byleth’s soldier-like Persona easily took the brunt of the attack head on and attacked the fox-like Persona.

“Aw, that’s no fun.” Kronya leapt backwards as the elephant-clad warrior clashed against the three-tailed fox. “Why don’t you use something a bit stronger? I’ll admit, I didn’t think you could use multiple Personas, but why aren’t you using them?”

“So you know of multiple Persona users, but you didn’t know I was one.” Byleth said. “Yet you still wanted to fight me specifically.”

“Oops.” Kronya said, grinning like she’d been caught with a hand in the cookie jar. “Well, aren’t you the smart one? Figured out anything useful?”

“Well, if I had to make my guess, I’d say that your Persona relies more on spells than physical strength, despite your own freakish strength. And this Persona resists fire.” Byleth said, calmly as Kitsune sank fireball after fireball into Hannibal. Hannibal braced through the attacks with his shield and charged forth slashing into the fox with his sword. Kronya winced from the attacks. Byleth continued. “Not to mention that a kitsune’s tails reveal how strong she is – and that’s a three-tailed kitsune. The _weakest_ among them.”

“You’re no fun!”

“I don’t need to be.” Byleth said, holding his sword in the guard position. “All I need to do is defeat you. And to do that, I don’t even need my power as the Wild Card. You were saying something about someone who doesn’t understand how out of their league they are?”

“Okay, you’re no longer fun.” Kronya hissed like a wounded cat. “Kitsune, kill that stupid Persona of his! He’s still taking damage even if it’s only in slight amounts.”

“Dia.” Green light surrounded Byleth’s Persona as Sothis stepped up beside Byleth, healing his Persona. Sothis smirked. “Foolish woman, to challenge us all alone. And, did you perhaps forget that there are four of us?”

“Four of you?” Kronya looked around, eyes widening as she saw Claude taking aim. “Kitsune, protect me!”

“Take her down, Hannibal!” Byleth lunged forward, raising his sword above his head and assuming a familiar stance as he did so. Kronya, caught between trying to avoid Claude’s attack and focusing on his persona, missed Byleth himself preparing for an attack. “Kabutowari!”

Kronya’s eye widened as she saw the attack coming, too late. Byleth wasn’t aiming for her head, but the blow he was about to deliver would still cripple her. Something the teacher considered only fitting, given that she’d tried to kill Leonie only moments before.

“Freila.”

An explosion of force sent Byleth tumbling backwards, though he managed to keep a grip on his blade. Hannibal landed in front of him, protecting him from any more attacks, but none came. Byleth stabbed the sword into his ground and got to his feet, even as Sothis started healing him.

“There are more of them.” Byleth hissed. A crossbow bolt whizzed by him, courtesy of Leonie, but Kitsune blocked it again.

“Kronya, we are leaving.” A gaunt old man appeared, surrounded by hordes of shadows. He gestured, and the pools went forth, moving to surround Byleth’s group. Byleth got to his feet and held his sword in a guard position. “You weren’t instructed to go all out and try to kill them.”

“We’ll meet again, Byleth – assuming you survive this!” Kronya called.

“Yes, indeed.” The gaunt man turned to Byleth and smiled. “I hope this doesn’t prove too difficult for you, Byleth – you still have a role to play in this story, after all.”

“Who are you!?” Byleth called out, as the shadows started surrounding his group. Claude, Sothis, and Leonie all started backing away as Shadows started clawing their way out of the black goop. Byleth winced. Even without the woman there, he got the sense that this wave of Shadows wouldn’t be so easy to defeat.

“Someone who shouldn’t have stepped out of the shadows this early.” The gaunt man smiled. “Aside from that … well, no one of any importance. Stay alive, Byleth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes, Kronya is showing up far earlier than she did in-game. Why? Well, because I think it’s better for the narrative if she and Byleth have some kind of interaction before *that* happens - I’m not saying any spoilers but presumably you’ve played the game so you know what I’m talking about. She’s showing up early so she can be fleshed out as a villain and have a relationship with Byleth, and not just be a one-act pony that she is in the game. With all respect to IS, Three Houses has several phenomenal characters and storylines. But Kronya’s isn’t one of them.
> 
> Kronya’s Persona is a kitsune from Japanese folklore. It matches her looks and her illusions in game. For now, it only has three tails. I wonder how many it will have the next time she and Byleth clash?


	7. The Moon Rises

“Shadows. And a lot of them.” Sothis sighed as various monsters started coming out of the black pools round them. “Of course this happens to us. Well, at least you’ll get some decent Personas out of this, Byleth.”

“We need to focus on survival first.” Byleth said, swapping out his Persona to a demonic-looking snowman. “Claude, Sothis; take them out one by one.”

“Leonie, you need to get back!” Claude said.

“I can fight too!”

“You can, but not as well as the rest of us without a Persona! Stay back and see if you can keep them away from us by using your bolts.” Byleth called. “Jack Frost! Bufu!”

Ice exploded outwards, joining the wind and flashes of light as Byleth, Claude, and Sothis tried desperately to stave off the advancing wave of shadows. Claude fired arrow after arrow from his bow, supplemented by Woden’s wind blasts, whereas all Sothis did was keep up consistent flashes of light, taking out random swaths of Shadows each time she did so. Leonie slowly backed away, firing her crossbow as she did so. Her heavy bolts slammed into the Shadows to send them back, but she couldn’t kill any of them like the others could.

“Should we go into the Palace?” Claude asked. “I mean, I know it’s a bad idea with this horde after us, but maybe it’s not such a bad idea?”

“No! There are shadows within that Palace too, and we might actually wake it up if we lead an army in there.” Sothis said, grimly. “We’ve just got to do it the old-fashioned way.”

“We can handle them.” Byleth said, shifting his grip to hold the blade two-handed and swung it around it a wide arc. “We just need a little more breathing room! Sothis, I’m shifting to physical attacks with my Personas – please use Dia to keep up my stamina.”

“I’ll support you however I can.” Sothis promised.

“Now, why can’t I get that kind of encouragement out of her, huh?” Claude asked, jokingly. His face hardened. “But this really isn’t the time for jokes. Woden, keep up the storm!”

A crossbow bolt flew by him and impaled a demonic sea-horse looking shadow, but it had little effect. A second later, Byleth’s Mokoi Persona smashed into the Shadow, killing it and sending it back to black goo.

“Out of my league, huh? I guess I really am.” Leonie said bitterly. “I couldn’t even beat Kronya, and Byleth was far stronger than she was. What kind of a chance am I supposed to stand against these kinds of monsters? Even if I do get a Persona, I’m sure that it’ll be no good…”

“Claude, duck!” Byleth ran at Claude, who promptly ducked as Byleth swung his sword over him, severing a shadow behind him in half. Claude used his own Persona to send forth wind spells of his own, blasting holes in the line. Byleth turned to Leonie. “Leonie, are you alright?”

“Not really, no! My mental state is kind of in shambles! I don’t want to be useless!”

“I meant physically!”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The Shadows aren’t really going for me.” Leonie fired again. “Guess they know enough to only attack people who are a threat.”

“Stay focused and keep yourself safe, then.” Byleth said to her. “I know you’re getting bogged down right now, but save those feelings for later.”

“And just use my useless crossbow bolts!?”

“It helps!” Byleth called, before dodging and engaging with another Shadow. “…I think, anyway!”

Luckily for Leonie, as she noticed, the creatures seemed focused on those with Personas. Leonie guessed she’d able to hide behind some rubble and be ignored for the fight.

“This isn’t me.” Leonie scowled. “Think! Come on, what would Jeralt say in a situation like this? Something like … there’s no point in quitting when you haven’t even gotten started? Yeah! Hey, Byleth!”

“Kind of busy!” Byleth called, switching Personas back to Agathion to try electricity attacks. “Leonie, what do you need?”

“Do you think Jeralt would cower in fear over something like this?” Leonie asked, stepping out into the open. “Because I don’t think he would.”

“Newsflash to the wannabe! You’re not Jeralt!” Claude said. A gust of wind shot out from his Persona, sending Shadows back. But even with all the damage they were doing, there were still too many of them.

_Ah. I think I see where she’s going with this. Well, if this is the same Leonie from back then, once she gets something stuck in her head, she won’t give it up for anything._ Byleth thought. “Claude, you’re right about that. No, she isn’t Jeralt. But she _is_ Jeralt’s apprentice.”

“Darn straight I am.” Leonie raised her crossbow and put a quarrel in a shadow’s head, knocking it back several feet to help the group. They’d managed to create a formation with Byleth in the lead and Claude and Sothis supporting him. Slain and disappearing shadows were around their feet, but more kept coming.

“Listen. I may not be as strong as Jeralt, and maybe not even as strong as Byleth. But I will be someday.” Leonie reloaded her crossbow. “And, to do that, I’ll need to do what Jeralt would do. I’m not backing down from a fight – not one where Jeralt wouldn’t. I’ll follow the footsteps of someone better than me and then I’ll surpass them! Do you hear me, Byleth!?”

A shadow in the form of an incubus lunged at the group, only for Leonie to shoot it clean with her crossbow and send it to the floor.

“I’m Jeralt’s apprentice, and I will be his successor. And, to become that, I will not back away now!”

_“Words well spoken. If you seek to truly surpass the one that you look up to all this time, then it is my pleasure to aid you on your quest, Leonie Pinelli. Do you desire my power to do so?”_

“Yes.” Leonie growled. “Yes, I do.”

_“Thus our contract is made. All you have to do to fulfill it is to constantly seek to surpass the one who’s name you hold so dear, as I did. But, be warned, that should you break out contract, there’ll be quite the price to pay. I am a pirate, after all.”_

Leonie dropped to her knees, groaning with pain. A circle flashed and started appearing on her right hand, inking itself into place, a rough circle more reminiscent of a tattoo than the one Claude or Byleth had. Leonie clutched her head as the pain consumed her.

_“Within you, I see the same attachment to a legend that I once had, and within you I see the same capacity to someday surpass him. Your legend had only just begun, and may it someday be as grand as mine. Now, say my name and call upon my power!_

“I’ll surpass Jeralt, Byleth, everyone, I promise you that! Now, come forth and pillage, Ching I Sao, the Pirate Queen!” Leonie cried, thrusting her hand to the sky. A woman appeared behind her, dressed in a combination of pirate leather mixed with Chinese symbols, carrying a single spear with a red flag prominently flying upon it. Instead of the traditional weapons a pirate might carry, she had a Chu-ko-nu, a Chinese repeating crossbow, strapped to her back. “Send them to hell! Triple Down!”

Leonie’s Persona withdrew the Chu-ko-nu from her back and sprayed the field with bolts, scattering the Shadows and sowing disruption into their ranks.

“Yes!” Claude cheered. “Now _that’s_ the Leonie that I know. Took you long enough.”

“Heh. Don’t pretend you had faith in me even for a moment, Claude.” Leonie smirked, but was still mostly wearing her smile, holding a clenched fist. She surveyed the carnage before her. “I’ll bet not even Jeralt could have managed this.”

“Now – while they’re still off-balance.” Sothis said, directing her attention to the group. “Let’s take this chance! It’s time to sacrifice all of our defense and caution in exchange for an unrelenting offense.”

“Well, you heard her.” Byleth said, gesturing with his sword pointed forward, his cloak flapping around him. Claude and Leonie took up tandem positions around him, armed with their respective weapons. Sothis’s dragonlike Persona suddenly because just a little bit more into focus. “All-out attack!”

The four of them lunged forward and attacked the downed and off-balance Shadows, fighting with blade, bolt, and arrow as needed; with their respective Personas lending a hand as necessary, finishing off the last of the Personas. The last one was killed by Leonie, blasted clean through at point blank range by her heavy crossbow.

“Don’t come crying to me when I’ve broken all your blades!” Leonie said, posing by slinging the crossbow over her shoulder with her right hand and holding out her left hand with a V for victory sign. “Heh.”

Claude just stared at her and shook his head.

“No, don’t give me that! Historically, the V for victory sign is supposed to be used by archers!”

“Whatever, ruin nerd.”

“I think that’s enough for tonight.” Byleth interrupted. “Let’s head back to the college. We’ll get some rest and discuss it at a club meeting tomorrow. And, Leonie?”

“Yes?”

“Congratulations on your Persona.” Byleth nodded and tried to put as much warmth into the gesture as he could manage. “But you still have to leave your crossbow here.”

“Killjoy!”

- _Velvet Room_ -

The room was empty this time of everyone save for the attendant named Seteh. Byleth looked around, but there was no trace of the shorter green-haired one, or the one with the long nose.

“I see that you’ve taken the first steps on the path of the wild card.” Seteh said. “But you must understand that your power, as it stands, pales in comparison towards your potential. You have a long road to go if you’re to obtain the power you’ll need.”

“Power I’ll need?” Byleth said. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“You’ve encountered two types of foes so far. The Shadows in the monastery are one type of foe, but you’ve also now encountered other who can use Personas.” Seteh said. “I trust you understand that there are even stronger foes yet to come. The might of an enemy Persona-wielder cannot compare to that of a Ruler, and even a Ruler cannot compare to…” Seteh trailed off and shook his head. “No. I’ll not tell you about it yet. But you understand that you need to get stronger.”

“Do you know those people, Seteh? The ones who I was fighting?”

“Do I know them? What a curious question.” Seteh shook his head. “No, of course not. I cannot leave the Velvet Room. I’m just an attendant.”

_He’s_ clearly _lying to me._ Byleth’s eyes narrowed. _This opens up the question – if he’s lying to me about this, what else is he lying to me about? And what Flayn and Igor? Are they telling me the truth too? Igor is clearly using me as a pawn of some kind._

_I suppose, ultimately, this does mean that I’ll need to get stronger._

“Alright. How do I go about getting stronger?”

“I suppose I have no choice about this.” Seteh said. “I will help you fuse stronger and stronger Personas, and give you access to special fusing techniques. This won’t be the only way you can get stronger, naturally, but it’s the only way I can help you with. But, in exchange, you’ll need to do something for me.”

“ _Quid pro quo_?”

“Not even that. Fuse me a sufficiently strong Persona, and you’ll prove yourself worthy of my power.”

“Let me get this straight.” Byleth said, blinking. “You want me to help me fuse stronger Personas, but in order to get that power, you want me to fuse strong Personas in the first place. Isn’t that a bit of a Catch-22? Why would I need your help to make stronger Personas if I already have them in the first place?”

“Because, Strategist, you are severely underestimating the strength of just how powerful your Personas could be.”

“Then that thought terrifies me.”

“It should.” Seteh said. “For your first task, I’ll give you something relatively simple. You’ve no doubt noticed that every Persona you have come with a weakness? Show me a Persona that has a means of overcoming their weakness, and I’ll grant you even more power.”

“Is that even possible?” Byleth asked. “I would assume that, given Persona are supposed to be shards of the human subconscious, that every one of them has a weakness. There’s no such thing as a perfect human.”

“The power of the Wild Card _is_ to combine different Personas into better ones.” Seteh said. “Perhaps you should think of your power differently.”

“I don’t even know how I think of it now!” Byleth complained.

“Well, perhaps you should.” Seteh said. “Goodbye, Byleth.”

- _Byleth’s Literature Class – Survey of the History of Literature_ -

“Next, we’ll discuss- yes, Claude? Do you have a question?”

“I was wondering if I could ask you about a certain character archetype which appears consistently throughout history.” Claude said.

“This _is_ the right class for that.” Byleth said. _Claude, what do you have in mind? This better not be anything that makes trouble for me._

“I’m, uh, not sure of the right name. I think its ‘the Wanderer’?” Claude offered. “You know, like Woden?”

Across the classroom, Leonie perked up at the mention of Claude’s Persona. She had decided to join Byleth’s class after all, but Byleth was fairly certain the reason had nothing to do with the actual class itself.

“Woden actually fulfills several archetypes. The most prominent among them is the ‘trickster’ or the ‘mentor’ archetype.” Byleth said. “Don’t be confused by the more modern literature – Loki isn’t the true trickster of Norse legends. But the ‘Wanderer’ is as good term for it as any.”

“Pardon me, Professor, but what do you mean by that?” Edelgard asked.

“Woden represents the aspect of a protagonist who seeks knowledge and answers. He is crafty when the situation demands it, willing to sacrifice, and always seeking something more.” Byleth responded. “Gandalf, from _Lord of the Rings_ , is an example of this archetype. But there are other notable example of this as well. If you’re looking for a protagonist with this aspect, you’d have to look towards places a little more unconventional.”

“Such as…?” Leonie asked.

“Well, to pick a more modern example, there are iterations of Bruce Wayne who would fit this archetype quite well. Not all of them, certainly, but there are some of them where he acts as a mentor to the rest of the characters around him.” Byleth said. “It’s also a good example to show that, while this archetype _can_ be a main character, it fits a supporting role quite well.”

“So, like a sidekick?” Claude asked.

“That’s one possibility for the Wanderer.” Byleth said. “But that’s not the limit – it can be an advisor, a mentor, or even a deuteragonist if the situations calls for it. This archetype is notable for having unique goals which run parallel to other character’s goals but are distinct. Woden, for instance, is ceaseless on his quest for knowledge. This usually has him working against the traditional villains of Norse legends, like the svartalfar, and helping other characters, like the ljosalfar.”

“Professor?” Dmitri lifted up his hand. “May I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.” Byleth nodded.

“Would a character such as Edmund Dantes qualify as well?”

“Ah, Edmund Dantes.” Byleth nodded to himself. “Despite being a protagonist, Edmund Dantes might qualify as a ‘Wanderer’, if he didn’t serve another archetype already. Not to mention that he’s missing out on one key component of the Wanderer.”

“Which is?”

“The Wanderer seeks the Unknown.” Byleth wrote the sentence on the board and underlined it. “And, coincidentally, that’s now an essay topic. If we’re going to discuss the history of literature, the Wanderer is as good of a place to start as any, because the Wanderer seeks the Unknown, and integral to any story _is_ the Unknown. I’ll give out a few more topics over the next few days as we discuss more archetypes. By the end of the month, I want everyone to have handed in an essay covering at least one such topic.”

The bell for the class rung.

“Class dismissed.” Byleth said. “Claude, Leonie, the elective you’re in will take place in this classroom later tonight.”

- _Gym (Afternoon)_ -

Catherine brought her sword down in a wide-arc swing, then rest back to her original stance. She repeated herself, then repeated herself again, going over the motions over and over.

“Hey, Catherine. Is now a bad time?”

“Byleth.” Catherine used his name as a greeting and kept swinging her blade without breaking pace. “Do you want something from me?”

“I just wanted to thank you for sparring with me the other day. I needed it a lot more than I knew at the time.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

_Is there something wrong with Catherine?_ Byleth wondered. _She’s usually a little more lively than that._ Catherine repeated the sword drills in the same rote motion. Byleth recognized them as little more than basics strikes and blocks, being done over and over. _Is she just drilling? I saw her run drills when we sparred last time. This seems … more rote, somehow._

Byleth considered asking her about it, then decided it really wasn’t any of his business. He turned to leave.

“Leaving so soon?” Catherine called after him.

“You seemed … busy.”

“Yeah.” Catherine exhaled, after swinging again. “I like to practice when I’m feeling a bit down. It’s very easy to just swing away and know that my form is perfect.”

“I can see that.” Byleth said. “Is there something wrong?”

“You and Jeralt are really alike, you know. He’s just as blunt as you.” Catherine sighed. “No, there’s nothing wrong, Byleth. I just needed … a reminder.”

“A reminder?”

“Yes, a reminder.” Catherine nodded and smiled. “Like I said, this is a way to focus my thoughts back on track. My form is perfect. Nothing is wrong.”

“Alright…” Byleth really didn’t know where the conversation had gone, but it seemed like he had helped with something, even if by accident.

“Thanks for checking up on me, though.” Catherine smiled. “I don’t think I’ll be able to spar with you today, so let’s push that off to a little bit farther down the line, alright?”

_She’s under stress, that’s for sure. I’m not sure why, but I assume that it has nothing to do with me, so I’ll stay out of it for now._ Byleth curtly nodded and left Catherine to her sword practice. _Still, I think it’s a good thing that she’s managing to control herself with those exercises. Maybe I should get into the habit of that myself._

- _Elective: Origins of Mythical Monsters_ -

“Hey, Teach. Is this the right classroom?” Claude knocked on the open door. Byleth, inside the classroom just sighed. Claude grinned and walked in, followed by Leonie behind him.

“Cool! Can’t wait to start.” Leonie said. “So, what’s up first?”

“For starters, I’ll need you two to sign this.” Byleth pushed a clipboard towards them. “If you’re going to join my club, you’ll need to actually sign up. I’m calling this elective ‘Origin of Mythical Monsters’.”

“Snappy name, Teach.” Claude signed the form with a flourish, followed by Leonie who had a more blocklike looking signature. “Is that what we’re calling ourselves?”

“It’s the name of the elective, certainly.”

“Well, that’s fine and good, but we need a better name for our group when its just us. I think we should call ourselves the Special Extracurricular Extermination-” Claude never got to finish his sentence because he was head-chopped by Leonie halfway through. Claude half scowled, half grinned at the attention. “What was that for?”

“You know what it was for.” Leonie said. “ _None of that_ , thank you very much. We need an _original_ name.”

“Seven of Swords.” Byleth said.

“But there are only three of us. Four if you count Sothis.” Claude said, puzzled. “And you’re the only one who wields a sword, Teach. Leonie’s shovel doesn’t count.”

“It can still put you six feet under.” Leonie said. “ _Both_ ways. Can a sword do that?”

“I think so, but I don’t think we’re comparing the utility of the weapon here.” Claude said. “Are we, Teach?”

“The _card_ , not the weapon.” Byleth explained. “It represents many things. One of which is an enormous volume of ideas. Something I think links to the Monastery very well.”

“A tarot motif? I can kind of get behind that. So what cards are we, then?” Leonie asked. “I mean, if you thought _that_ much about it…? Am I the Archeologist?”

“You don’t know the cards, do you?” Claude asked, deadpan.

“Do _you?_ ”

“I know enough to know that there’s no such card called the archeologist. Or the apprentice.” Claude grinned as a thought struck him. “Ooh, I bet I’m the Devil, right? You’re the Magician and Leonie is …”

“That’s not important right now.” Byleth said. _Best to keep my knowledge of the Velvet Room to myself for now. Its not that I don’t trust Claude, but I’d rather understand myself just what I’m dealing with before I tell him._ “We need to discuss what we’re doing about the Monastery. Whether or not we wish to proceed further.”

“Are you joking, professor?” Leonie asked. “No way am I backing out. This is the archeological find of the century! Can you imagine how impressed Jeralt will be when I uncover this?”

“I can’t exactly leave it alone, Teach.” Claude added. “Besides, you want to get to the bottom of this too, don’t you?”

“…Do I?” Byleth considered. He could feel the faint flicker of something within him. Curiosity. Claude was right – he _did_ want to learn more about the Monastery. Not to mention that he sensed an odd connection to the self-proclaimed guardian Sothis. Byleth nodded. “Alright. I’ll make arrangements for our club, then. We’ll have meeting twice a week in the evening. We’ll explore the Monastery then.”

“Yeah!” Claude pumped his fist.

“In the meantime, do the best you can to train yourselves.” Byleth said. “Leonie… please don’t use your crossbow on school campus.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be caught.”

“That’s _not_ what I asked.”

“Sheesh. Yeah. Fine. I’ll go practice at a range.” Leonie said. “Is that it?”

“I think so.” Byleth said. “We should take it slow for the first few days. Then we’ll-”

Byleth’s phone went off just as an alarm blared over the loudspeakers. Byleth picked up his phone without a moment’s hesitation and answered it without even taking the time to check the name.

“Byleth Eisner speaking.”

“ _Byleth? Thank goodness you’re alright.”_

“Headmistress?” Byleth recognized the voice. “Why are you calling me?”

_“_ ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. STAY INSIDE, LOCK ALL DOORS, AND MOVE AWAY FROM ANY WINDOWS!” A loud voice blared over the school’s speaker system. _“_ ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. STAY INSIDE, LOCK ALL DOORS, AND MOVE AWAY FROM ANY WINDOWS!”

“An attack!?” Claude shot to his feet, but Leonie was even faster. She was already at the door, bolting it shut. Claude stood at the door for a moment, only for Leonie to yank him down out of the way of the door’s window. Byleth himself ducked and sat down under his own desk to keep himself out of sight of the window as well.

_“Ignore that alarm, the danger is over.”_ Rhea said to him, hearing the alarm go off in the background. “ _They found something which tripped the alarm, and now security is looking for an active shooter of some kind. But I think that all the damage that could have been done has already been done.”_

“What happened, Headmistress?”

_“They found a dead body on school grounds.”_

“Are you serious!?”

“ _Listen to me, Byleth.”_ Rhea’s voice was now calm. “ _The danger is_ passed _. This was a deliberate act of murder against one person, its not a school shooter. Don’t panic. I need you and the rest of the staff to act strong for the students.”_

“Teach? What’s going on?” Claude asked. Byleth risked a glance around the deck to see him sitting against the wall. Leonie had stood up and was waiting right beside the door, holding _something_ in her hand. Some kind of weapon?

Byleth gave him a meaningful look to try and calm him down. He put the phone to the side and covered it with his hand. “Everything’s fine. Just stay the same way you are now.”

“ _Byleth?”_ Rhea asked. “ _You are okay, right?”_

“Headmistress, are you worried about me in particular?”

_“A little bit, yes. I just had this horrible image of what I would tell your father if anything happened to you and I think I panicked a little.”_ Rhea laughed gently. “ _Imagine that! I tell you not to panic and then I go and do the same thing. We have a security team inspecting the school now, led by Catherine. Don’t worry, it’ll be safe in no time.”_

“I see.” Byleth exhaled. “I’m glad to hear that. Whose body did they find?”

“Body?” Claude hissed. He started to say something else only for Leonie to glare at him, forcing him silent.

_“You don’t know him, but his adopted son, Ashe Ulbert is in one of your classes. He’s a wealthy banker and actually helped the academy tremendously.”_ Rhea said. “ _Lonato Gaspard was found dead on academy grounds a few minutes ago.”_

“Are you serious?”

“ _Yes. Stay where you are until Catherine’s team finds you, and then escort your students back to their rooms. You can tell them what happened – we’re a college, I think my students are mature enough.”_ Rhea said. “ _I’m glad to hear that you’re safe and sound. Good night.”_

“Teach?” Claude asked. “Are you going to tell us what this is all about.”

“Apparently they found a dead body on campus. Murdered, from what I gathered.” Byleth said, pocketing his phone. “We’re staying here for the time being.”

“There’s a dead body on campus?” Claude said, shocked. “Jeez, Teach. I didn’t think this would happen here. I mean, this is Garreg Mach!”

“Just goes to show you, rich boy, that you don’t get to just pick everything that happens to you.” Leonie said. She had stashed her knife back inside her backpack once she knew the danger was passed. Byleth elected not to try and convince her to stop carrying it. It seemed like it would be a waste of breath on his part, not to mention that there _had_ just been an attack on school campus.

“I’ll escort you back to the Yellow Deer dorms once security arrives.” Byleth said. “The school will figure out what to do in the morning.”

_Byleth? Byleth, can you hear me?_

“Ah!” Byleth winced.

_Oh, good. I thought you could, but I was worried for a moment you couldn’t_. Sothis’s voice echoed in his head. _So this bond works in this way, does it? Interesting. Oh, in case you’re wondering, I can’t hear your thoughts, but I_ can _hear you if you talk. And neither of the other two can hear me._

“So I have to talk to myself to hear you?” Byleth asked.

“Teach? Are you OK?”

“I’m talking to the dragon girl in my head, give me a moment.” Byleth said, holding up a hand. “She says that the two of you can’t hear her.”

“Why do we now live in a world where that sentence makes sense?” Leonie sighed. “I mean, the Monastery is cool, don’t get me wrong – but that sentence is a little weird, don’t you think?”

_You need to come to the Monastery as soon as possible. I’ll talk to you more there_.

“There’s something at the Monastery, apparently.” Byleth turned to other two. “Alright. We’ll need to keep this elective up. Especially since they probably won’t let students wander without supervision after this.”

“Wait…” Claude’s eyes grew wide. “No way. Does the Monastery have something to do with this?”

“Sothis didn’t say anything, just that I needed to go there as soon as possible.”

“But it would be quite the coincidence if they had nothing to do with each other.” Claude cracked his knuckles. “I smell a mystery. This is about to get real interesting.”

- _Monastery_ -

Sothis watched as a new building arose in the northwestern area of the Monastery. It looked like the entrance to a dueling arena of some kind, but the door would lead to a Palace. She flitted to the door and closed her eyes.

_“Heed my call, Persona…”_ Sothis said, summoning a Persona and checking the Palace. There was no mistaking it. Unlike the Neglected Palace of Sloth, this Palace was fresh. And it was alive. A sin must have been committed.

“A new Palace has emerged. The Shrine of Pride.” Sothis inhaled sharply. “And it’s _awake_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first Palace in this story is not the Palace of Sloth (that’s going to be one of the later ones) but rather the Shrine of Pride. No prizes for guessing who the Ruler of this Palace is. And now the story can have a more proper Persona vibe – balance of mixing Palace exploration and Social Link development. I hope to have more consistent chapter updates in the future – maybe once every two weeks?  
> Also, for those of you reading Rise of the Crimson Tactician, I haven’t forgotten about the final chapter. It’s just taking me a little longer than expected to write it.


End file.
